• Schweizer Buchpreis 2011 · Shortlist

The Encyclopaedia of Good Reasons

Grünschnabel

Monica Cantieni (born 1965)

Translated by Donal McLaughlin

English editions

In English

• The Encyclopaedia of Good Reasons

  Seagull Books · United Kingdom · March 2021 · Paperback · 232 pages

  Buy on Amazon* ↗

* Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The price stays the same for you.

My father bought me from the city for 365 francs. So begins the story of a child who suffered from the poverty of language in a children's home and, given up for adoption, lands with new parents in the immigrant milieu of 1970s Switzerland. In this colourful, mixed world the child tries to gain a footing and find her way, collecting words in many matchboxes, sorting them, finding and inventing connections and meanings. That is not easy, and the real trouble starts when she makes a discovery in the wardrobe of an Italian guest worker.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

239 pages in the original

Genres

Coming of age, Family, Migration (assigned by AI)

Set in

Switzerland, 1970s

First published

2011 by Schöffling

Author's age

46 when first published

ISBN

9783895613456 (original)

9780857428363 (Seagull Books, United Kingdom)