Francesca Melandri’s Eva Sleeps (to be published by Europa Editions in May) was introduced by Katherine Gregor, who used to be a theatrical agent before becoming a translator. Eva’s story is the story of a woman searching for the truth about her origins. The backdrop to this story is South Tyrol, in the north-eastern corner of Italy, an area which was part of Germany before being annexed to Italy and where the main language is still German. Katherine, who was born in Italy and was brought up by her Russian-Armenian grandmother before moving to France and eventually to the UK, explained how she could relate to a character that could not be defined by her nationality or her language. I can relate to this too – although I did not leave Italy until I was 20, I had already lived in five different towns by then. Wherever I was, I had always felt part of me was elsewhere. It was to be become a constant theme in my life.
