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    Accabadora: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Accabadora: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Accabadora: A Novel
    Ebook175 pages3 hours

    Accabadora: A Novel

    By Michela Murgia

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A stunning portrait of rural Italy in the 1950s and “a touching meditation on life and death and the power of love to bind, transcend, and let go” (Publishers Weekly).
     
    At one time betrothed to a fallen soldier, Bonaria Urrai of Sardinia has a long-held covenant with the dead. Midwife to the dying, easing their suffering and sometimes ending it, she is revered and feared in equal measure as her village’s Accabadora. When Bonaria adopts Maria, the unloved fourth child of a widow, she tries to shield the girl from the truth about her role as an angel of mercy.
     
    Moved by the pleas of a young man crippled in an accident, Bonaria breaks her golden rule of familial consent. In the recriminations that follow, Maria rejects her and flees Sardinia for Turin. Adrift in the big city, Maria strives as ever to find love and acceptance, but her efforts are overshadowed by the creeping knowledge of a debt unpaid, of a duty and destiny that must one day be hers.
     
    Accabadora is Michaela Murgia’s exceptional English-language debut and has been awarded seven major literary prizes, including Italy’s prestigious Premio Campiello.
     
    “Poignant, honest, and magical, this is a dazzling story for the senses, and one I will not soon forget.” —Susan Sherman, author of The Little Russian
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateOct 30, 2012
    ISBN9781619021334
    Unavailable
    Accabadora: A Novel
    Author

    Michela Murgia

    Michela Murgia is an Italian novelist and politician. She has written travel books, political non-fiction and novels, for which she has been awarded the Premio Campiello and the Mondello International Literary Prize.

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    Reviews for Accabadora

    4/5

    95 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I learned of this little gem of a book here on Goodreads. A best seller in Italy, it has won a number of European prizes. The novel takes the reader into village life in Sardinia in the 1950s. Known in the village as the “Accabadora,” the remarkable Bonaria eases the suffering of the dying, sometimes ending it. She adopts, Maria, the unloved child of a widow and gives her an education, self-confidence and love. But as Maria nears adulthood, she discovers her adopted mother is an angel of mercy, feels betrayed and rejects her. She leaves home and moves to Turin where she tries to make a life for herself. I won't spoil the ending by telling you more, suffice it to say, she finds her destiny as a responsible and kind young woman.
      A beautiful slice of life -in a place and culture not many of us have experienced.
    • 5/5
      Haunting and beautiful, the imagery described in such a way I can see it in my mind. The portrayal of the coming of age of the main character is uniquely accurate in the life she has been born in to.