Dutiful Daughters
‘Intelligent and refreshingly radical’ - Il Foglio
To be published in 2027
Two first cousins, born a month apart, have grown up together in middle class families in Caserta, near Naples, their paths predetermined by the usual weight of expectations for 'nice girls’. The story begins when the narrator, rebellious expat Clara, is summoned home from London for the wedding of ‘perfect’ beautiful Rossella to the ideal man.
Clara lives a precarious existence, teaching Italian to rich bored housewives. She can’t possibly tell her family about her freestyle living arrangements, her non-committed boyfriend and Tinder dates. But nothing in Caserta is quite what it pretends to be, not even Rossella.
And is Clara’s London life any better?
Olga Campofreda’s second novel, her first to be published in English, was nominated for the Strega Prize and optioned by Netflix.
A Bildungsroman that is witty, engrossing and thought-provoking. Translated by Jennifer Panek.
REVIEWS
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— Claudia Durastanti, author of Strangers I Know and Cleopatra Goes to Prison
“The South itself as a bell jar: with her poised and delicate voice, Olga Campofreda writes an evocative novel on girlhood and desire against destiny.”
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— Veronica Raimo, author of Lost on Me and The Girl at the Door
"Repudiating the unspoken rules and pre-determined roles of provincial life, Campofreda casts a sharp and restless eye on women who — scandalously — demand so much more."
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— Viola Ardone, author of The Children’s Train and The Unbreakable Heart of Oliva Denaro
"A story that probes the borderlands between shame and desire; how far must we travel to unlearn the rules that make us good girls?"