Donatella Di Pietrantonio

FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF A GIRL RETURNED It's the darkest time of night. Adriana, a baby in her arms, hammers on her sister's door. Who is she running from? What uncomfortable truth will she deliver? Like a whirlwind, Adriana breaks into her sister's life bringing chaos and cataclysmic revelations. Years later, the narrator gets an unexpected, urgent summons...

In the 1990s, deep in the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shattered the peace of the local community. Two young women were murdered, a third left for dead. Lucia was twenty years old back then, and the only survivor, a childhood friend. Now Lucia is a physiotherapist, separating from her husband, her daughter Amanda studying in Milan....

I was the Arminuta, the girl returned. I spoke another language, I no longer knew who I belonged to. The word 'mama' stuck in my throat like a toad. And, nowadays, I really have no idea what kind of place mother is. It is not mine in the way one might have good health, a safe place, certainty. Without warning...