One day in May 1980, eight-year-old Ilaria was taken by her father on a wander across Italy. From small hotels to freeway service areas, this escape takes her from Trieste to Sicily, via Rome and Bologna. Far from her mother, the little girl learns to lie, to drive and, above all, to stop crying. Gabriella Zalapì’s tale of learning is marked by both gentleness and harshness, as the Italian landscape mirrors Ilaria’s inner transformations.
A pen between memory and fiction
Gabriella Zalapì, a visual artist and writer of English, Italian and Swiss descent, transcends the boundaries between the intimate and the universal. Trained at the Geneva School of Art and Design, she incorporates family archives and personal memories into her work. With this second novel, she confirms the elegance of her writing and her ability to blend fiction and history. After Antonia (2019), which had already made a lasting impression, Ilaria ou la conquête de la désobéissance asserts itself as a tale as delicate as it is unforgettable.
Ilaria ou la conquête de la désobéissance by Gabriella Zalapì, published at éditions ZOÉ
Header photo credits : Roman Lusser/ Zoé Éditions
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Ilaria ou la conquête de la désobéissance
Gabriella Zalapì
Éditions ZOE