• Premio Strega 2002 · Shortlist

The Librarians of Alexandria

Le bibliotecarie di Alessandria

Alessandra Lavagnino (born 1927)

Translated by Teresa Lust

English editions

In English

• The Librarians of Alexandria

  Steerforth Italia · United States · 2005 · 313 pages

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Adriana tells the story of her mother Marta and of a family across three periods. In 1899 they move to Alexandria in Egypt, a city intoxicating with colours and flavours, Western and Eastern at once. In 1920 they return to Rome, where Marta's love of books becomes work in a library alongside her sister Margherita: they are the librarians of Alexandria. Then come the years in Palermo, as the Second World War looms and upsets everyone's life, in a choral novel of happy childhoods, painful adulthoods, separations and unexpected bonds.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

422 pages in the original

Genres

Family, Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Egypt, Italy, 1899–1940s

First published

2002 by Sellerio

Author's age

75 when first published

ISBN

9788838917745 (original)

9781586420994 (Steerforth Italia, United States)