Accabadora: A Novel

By Michela Murgia

One of Elena Ferrante’s “Best 40 books by Female Writers”

This Italian bestseller is a “timeless portrait of village life in Sardinia circa 1950s” as it “tells the story of a young girl adopted by a remarkable woman who stands at the threshold of life and death” (Susan Sherman, author of The Little Russian).

Sardinia, 1950s: Formerly beautiful and at one time betrothed to a fallen soldier, Bonaria Urrai has a long-held covenant with the dead. She is revered and feared in equal measure as the village’s Accabadora, midwife to the dying, easing their suffering—and sometimes ending it.
 
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, she breaks her golden rule of familial consent, and 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.

Written with intriguing subtlety, this Italian best-seller has been awarded 7 major literary prizes, including Italy’s prestigious Premio Campiello.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781619021334

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.

Reviews for Accabadora

[cindamac · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[aehotchkiss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.