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Ternitti

Mario Desiati (born 1977)

English editions

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No English translation found yet.

In 1975, fifteen-year-old Mimì Orlando has to leave her golden Puglia to follow her father to a great Swiss factory making 'ternitti', asbestos cement, the promise of wealth for thousands of emigrants. For her the north means years of glass and cold, but also a secret passion for Ippazio, eighteen, his fingers already eaten by asbestos. In the 1990s Mimì is back in Puglia, alone with a teenage daughter, Arianna, and no man at their side. A nonconformist, loyal mother and an indomitable comrade to her fellow workers, she accompanies many to the threshold of death from mesothelioma, without ever bending.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Length

258 pages in the original

Genres

Migration, Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

Italy, Switzerland, 1975–1990s

First published

2011 by Mondadori

Author's age

34 when first published

ISBN

9788804608844 (original)