Maiden Name

Rose—stubborn as mountain flowers pushing through stone toward the sun—runs away from her parents’ home with her lover; together they open a tavern, and after her husband’s death she becomes the head of the family. Her daughter Selma, tender as the embroidery she never lets out of her hands, marries against her mother’s advice. When her chosen man betrays her, squandering her dowry, she keeps the family together for the sake of her daughters. Patricia, Lavinia, and Marinella inherit not only their mother’s and grandmother’s character traits, but also the family wounds. They must remember Selma’s and Rose’s lessons in order to begin living according to their own dreams.

Italian critics call Aurora Tamidžo’s debut novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude with a Woman’s Face,” placing it alongside Natalia Ginzburg’s “Family Lexicon” and Gracia Deledda’s prose. From patriarchal 1920s to turbulent 1980s, from silent consent to finding a voice—this chronicle of women’s strength and solidarity turns keeping one’s maiden surname into a symbol of freedom.