Silvia: A funny, heartfelt novel about the chaos of love, guilt and family expectations

— —

Maya Caruso

Silvia

Name: Silvia
Price: 34.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781786587596

A funny, heartfelt novel about the chaos of love, guilt and family expectations

Maya Caruso

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Echo
28 April 2026

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

At the heart of Maya Caruso's sharp, tender, insightful and wickedly ironic novel is Silvia Junior: a 42-year-old Italo-Australian workaholic who's nailed career success but flunked personal fulfilment. Romance? She ghosted it sometime after her divorce.

Enter her mother, Silvia Senior: a widowed Italian matriarch with opinions laced with old-school patriarchy and a Rolodex of gossip-hungry nonnas. She's made it her full-time job to remind Junior that she's alone, unmarried and probably infertile. Their relationship is equal parts love, loathing and mutual dependency - a tangle of guilt, meatballs and inherited trauma.

When an old friend resurfaces, Junior's carefully collapsed world starts to expand. There's flirting, there's dancing, there's actual joy. Shockingly, Senior gets swept up in the action too, dipping a cautious toe into the world of dating.

But as both women step out of their comfort zones, life pushes back. Chaos ensues, feelings get messy, and not even a solid plate of lasagne can fix everything. Silvia is a funny, heartbreaking look at what happens when women - especially ones raised to hold it all together - turn their backs on expectations and go in search of themselves.

By: Maya Caruso
Imprint: Echo
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781786587596
ISBN 10: 1786587599
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 28 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Maya Caruso is a Sydney-based researcher and author whose love of storytelling is as strong as her espresso. The daughter of Italian migrants who arrived in Australia in the 1960s, she grew up in a home filled with loud laughter, much yelling, and endless curiosity about the world. When she's not writing or diving into her latest research project, Maya can be found chasing after her two children or spoiling her very old (and delightful!) dog. Her work blends heart, history and humour, with a dash of Italian flair. Silvia is Maya's first novel.