Beatrice Salvioni, who won the 2021 Italo Calvino prize for her short stories, will inevitably be compared to Elena Ferrante, and not solely because of the title of her debut novel. The Cursed Friend, translated by Elena Pala, focuses on an intense friendship between two girls and explores familiar themes of youthful curiosity and female rebellion against a patriarchal society.
It’s set in the mid-1930s in the Italian city of Monza, where 12-year-old Francesca yearns to escape her comfortable middle-class existence. After she starts hanging out with wild, stubborn Maddalena, other avenues open up to her. They spend their days playing truant from school, fishing in the Lambro river and stealing cherries from the local grocer. Their neighbours call Maddalena “the Cursed One”, blaming her for the fatal work injury of her father and tragic death of her younger brother after he fell from a window. But Francesca is drawn to her friend’s passion, loyalty and courage – attributes she lacks.
