New York Times Book Review: 100 Notable Books of 2023
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Sign up todayForbidden Notebook
A Novel
Narrator
Cassandra Campbell
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Translator
Ann Goldstein
Length
10 hours 28 minutes
Language
English
This is a classic domestic novel by the Italian-Cuban feminist writer Alba de Céspedes, whose work inspired contemporary writers like Elena Ferrante
In this modern translation by acclaimed Elena Ferrante translator Ann Goldstein, The Forbidden Notebook centers the inner life of a dissatisfied housewife living in postwar Rome.
Valeria Cossati never suspected how unhappy she had become with the shabby gentility of her bourgeois life—until she begins to jot down her thoughts and feelings in a little black book she keeps hidden in a closet. This new secret activity leads her to scrutinize herself and her life more closely, and she soon realizes that her individuality is being stifled by her devotion and sense of duty toward her husband, daughter, and son.
As the conflicts between parents and children, husband and wife, and friends and lovers intensify, what goes on behind the Cossatis’ façade of middle-class respectability gradually comes to light, tearing the family’s fragile fabric apart.
An exquisitely crafted portrayal of domestic life, The Forbidden Notebook recognizes the universality of human aspirations.
Alba de Céspedes (1911–1997) was a bestselling Cuban-Italian feminist writer greatly influenced by the cultural developments that led to and resulted from World War II. In 1935, she was jailed for her antifascist activities in Italy. Two of her novels were also banned—Nessuno Torna Indietro (1938) and La Fuga (1940). In 1943, she was again imprisoned for her work with Radio Partigiana in Bari, where she was a Resistance radio personality known as Clorinda. After the war, she moved to Paris, where she lived until her death in 1997.
Original bio sent from Cassandra:
Cassandra Campbell began doing voice overs as the voice for Calvin Klein’s Italian commercials. This was followed by commercial and documentary recording in both English and Italian. She has recorded many audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as an Audie® Award nomination. As an actress and director, she has worked at the Public, the Mint, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stagewest, Theatreworks, the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Millmountain Theatre, the National Shakespeare Company, and the New York Fringe Festival.
Ann Goldstein is the former senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
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Reviews
“The absorbing and abidingly resonant confession of a woman’s desire to do that most elusive thing: forge a self apart from her caring for others. Forbidden Notebook can also be read as an allegory of fascism, a post-Roe cautionary tale, and corroboration of the revelatory and exhilarating but also implosive power of honest words.”
“A wrenching, sardonic depiction of a woman caught in a social trap."
“A remarkable story, one that remains intensely relevant across time, cultures, and continents.”
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