Author Description

Winner of the Elsa Morante Prize in 1994 and the American Batchelder Prize in 2023, this book is Italian author Leah Levy's masterpiece and breakout novel, and moreover, an autobiographical novel that is as powerful as it is subtle. The author tells the story of a Jewish family in exile during World War II through the eyes of a Jewish girl. Traveling from Turin to Rome, the girl, Leah, ends up hidden in a religious convent to escape Nazi persecution. Here, she is not discriminated against or persecuted, and her parents and teachers do everything they can to protect the girl's life and Jewish identity from being annihilated. It is not until the end of the war that her mother tells the girl that she is just a child, a girl, and that she will always and forever have the freedom to choose who she wants to be.