★FINALIST AT BANCARELLINO PRIZE 2021.
★WINNER OF LIBRI PER SOGNARE PRIZE 2021.
★This is the story of how Marianna grows up and learns the words that take her to the route of freedom.

One October evening in the late 1800s, an announcement was made to Marianna, advising her that she would be leaving the harsh country life to work in a paper mill in Lecco. Hers isn’t the first of the family to break the rhythm of days spent in the fields: aunt Ada had already ventured into the world to follow dreams and ideals that were incomprehensible to a world bound to tradition. With the example of her courageous aunt in mind, Marianna embraces her new life, facing her own fears and the prejudice of others. She is sustained by the solidarity of the generous women around her and encouraged by their examples; the young girl learns to read and write, and becomes empowered to share this route to freedom with others, setting her sights higher and higher to become the person she would like to be. Her voice, now strong and clear, has found the words to tell her story.

«DARE TO DARE MARIANNA DON’T LET OPPORTUNITIES PASS YOU BY. THINK OF THEM AS PEARLS THAT WILL ONE DAY JOIN TOGETHER TO MAKE A PRECIOUS NECKLACE.»

LODOVICA CIMA has written more than two hundred books for young readers and worked in children’s publishing for more than twenty years. She collaborates with trade journals and teaches on the publishing master’s course at Milan University and at the Mondadori Foundation. In 2017, she set up a children’s publisher, Pelledoca, focusing on noir and mystery fiction.