It is the 1930s in Massawa, capital of the Italian colony of Eritrea. A woman is abandoned by an Italian soldier when, after marrying her and fathering her children, racial laws are imposed. Now, rejected by both the local and Italian communities, she needs to find a way to provide the bare essentials for her children, while taking her anger and frustration out on her daughter Marianna. Throughout the years, Mariana grows up and her relationship with her mother becomes more complex. She will eventually wonder about her origins and start looking for her father. In a lyric prose and including elements of social and magical realism, Abandonment is a rare gem amongst the Italian Postcolonial literary canon.

Translated by: Oonagh Stransky