The Mother

During the course of one day, in the midst of a ghostly apparition, a miraculous healing, and an angry death, a young priest and his mother confront the contradictions of their lives and the conflicts of maternal, erotic, and divine love. Set in the small Sardinian village of Aar, The Mother powerfully reveals a very contemporary crisis of moral certitude and a spiritual unraveling that leads to unexpected consequences. Grazia Deledda was born in Nuoro, Sardinia, in 1871. At fifteen, she published her first story. Over the course of her life, she wrote thirty-three novels and many books of short fiction. Although she moved to Rome in 1900, most of her work is set in her native Sardinia. In 1926, Deledda was named the Nobel Laureate in Literature - the only Italian woman and the second of only fourteen women awarded the prize. D.H. Lawrence alerted English-language readers to Deledda when he wrote the preface to an early translation of La Madre, one of her most important works. However, he failed to understand her power to remain an enduring literary figure. Her ability to blend seemingly ancient morals and codes with the most modern concerns continues to attract readers almost a century after her death.