Francesca Melandri‘s debut novel Eva Dorme (English language title: Eva Sleeps), was snapped up by Italian publisher Mondadori within days of being read by it’s chief editor – a clever decision as the book has become a best-seller, winner of an Elle magazine book of the Year Award, and will soon become a film. Melandri, who lives in Rome is an interesting character – her first attempts at writing were short stories written in English, while she ttravelled around Asia, and while they were rejected by publishers they did spur her on to develop a career in screenwriting for TV. Her novel Eva Sleeps, published in English by Europa Editions (Ferrante’s publisher) is set in a little publicised moment of Italian history, the violent repression of German Culture in the Northern Italian border regions, and the terrorist movements that fought the state. It’s a novel about culture and identity, and marks Melandri out as a writer to keep an eye on .
