The Cursed Friend
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'Richly imagined' OBSERVER
'A widescreen, sensory, visual story' THE TIMES
It is 1936 in the small Italian city of Monza. On the pebbled bank of the Lambro, two frantic girls scramble to hide a body.
A year earlier, Maddalena attracts stares everywhere she goes. âThe Cursed Oneâ, they whisper, as tales of the harm sheâs inflicted upon those that have crossed her ignite fear and scorn amongst the townspeople.
Francesca is not scared like the others. Respectable, well-behaved and yearning for a life beyond provincial conformity, she is drawn to Maddalenaâs rebellious spirit. When, one day, she finds herself telling a lie to save her, this split-second decision irrevocably binds the girls together.
From this moment on they will go to any length to protect one another, even if that leads to a terrible violence...
Translated from the Italian by Elena Pala
'Salvioni's prose is transfixing and visceral' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Heart-rendingly tender and fiercely defiantâ HESTER MUSSON
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Beatrice Salvioni was born in Monza in 1995 and now lives in Turin, Italy. A recent graduate of the Scuola Holden, she won the 2021 Italo Calvino Prize for short stories. The Cursed Friend is her first novel.
