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Alba de Cespedes (1911-97) was a bestselling Italian-Cuban novelist, poet and screenwriter. The granddaughter of the first President of Cuba, de Cespedes was raised in Rome. Married at 15 and a mother by 16, she began her writing career after her divorce at the age of 20. She worked as a journalist throughout the 1930s while also taking an active part in the Italian partisan struggle, and was twice jailed for her anti-fascist activities. After the fall of fascism, she founded the literary journal Mercurio and went on to become one of Italy's most successful and most widely translated authors. Forbidden Notebook is also available from Pushkin Press.
'Reading Alba de Cespedes was, for me, like breaking into an unknown universe: social class, feelings, atmosphere' - Annie Ernaux 'One of Italy's most cosmopolitan, incendiary, insightful, and overlooked writers' - Jhumpa Lahiri 'Alba de Cespedes wrote novels in the 1940s and 1950s that were radically contemporary, both then and now... A courageous novel, beautifully imagined and written' - Washington Post 'de Cespedes masterfully chronicles how a lifetime of indignities and sufferings can pile up to fray even the most well-intended people... Her Side of the Story is an achievement that warrants not only a second look at this forgotten writer, but also an important place in the canon of women's literature' - Chicago Review of Books 'Devastating... de Cespedes's melancholy testament to a hidden life feels timeless and vital' - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
