{"product_id":"forbidden-notebook-a-novel-9781662602689","title":"Forbidden Notebook: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e“Powerful.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Brilliant.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Astounding.\" —\u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Forceful, clear and morally engaged.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Subversive.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An exquisite, tormented howl.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Quick, propulsive, and addictive.\" —\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Gripping.” —\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A remarkable story.” —\u003ci\u003ePublisher’s Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e“Wrenching, sardonic.” —\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e“As relevant today as it was in postwar Italy.\" —\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a foreword by Jhumpa Lahiri, \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic domestic novel by the Italian-Cuban feminist writer Alba de Céspedes, whose work inspired contemporary writers like Elena Ferrante.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this modern translation by acclaimed Elena Ferrante translator Ann Goldstein, \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e centers the inner life of a dissatisfied housewife living in postwar Rome.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eValeria 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’ facade of middle-class respectability gradually comes to light, tearing the family’s fragile fabric apart.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn exquisitely crafted portrayal of domestic life, \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e recognizes the universality of human aspirations.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781662602689\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Astra Publishing House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: United States\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 22.9(H)x15.2(L)x2(W)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eAlba de Céspedes (1911–1997) was a bestselling Italian-Cuban feminist writer greatly influenced by the cultural developments that led to and resulted from World War II. In 1935, she was jailed for her anti-fascist activities in Italy. Two of her novels were also banned—\u003ci\u003eNessuno Torna Indietro \u003c\/i\u003e(1938) and \u003ci\u003eLa Fuga\u003c\/i\u003e (1940). In 1943, she was again imprisoned for her assistance 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.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\"A literary monument—Elena Ferrante cites it as an influence, and readers will find strong echoes of Valeria’s voice and predicament in many of Ferrante’s stubborn and paradoxical heroines.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Catherine Lacey, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e] moved me enormously.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Leïla Slimani,\u003ci\u003e The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If you’re a Ferrante fan, you’ll likely love de Céspedes’ piercing prose, as it probes the inner lives of women searching for meaning in a patriarchal Italian culture and facing the distance between who they’ve become and who they’d like to be.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Julianne McShane, A \u003ci\u003eMother Jones \u003c\/i\u003efavorite book of 2023\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is impossible not to be impressed by this important and beautifully translated book, as well as by de Céspedes’s masterful handling of so many complex interpersonal and existential subjects.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Sunny Rosen, \u003ci\u003eCurrent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In the novel-diary, as in her advice column, De Céspedes undoes common-place assumptions and evokes a sense of radical possibility within a conventional format, and through familiar themes: the family, love, sex, relationships....De Céspedes’ account of the alienating, confining, tenacious force of the family endures.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eEleanor Careless, \u003ci\u003eThe New Inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What she did – here and in her novels – was to combine intimate revelation about women’s bodily and emotional lives with a deep moral seriousness about the need for change within marriage as an institution and within women’s lives.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eLara Feigel, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eOver the course of this beautiful, wrenching, and delicately constructed novel, which is made up entirely of Valeria’s diary entries, a quiet revolution occurs.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNatalia Holtzman,\u003ci\u003e On the Seawall\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Forbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e’s pace is quick, propulsive, and addictive. Intimate, smart, and smoldering, newly translated by Ann Goldstein (noted for her translations of Elena Ferrante, herself a passionate reader of de Céspedes) and introduced by Jhumpa Lahiri, \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e joins a global canon of work by writers such as Clarice Lispector, Colette, Jean Rhys, Margery Latimer, Mercè Rodoreda, and Mariama Bâ, unapologetically restricting its focus to the world of traditionally feminine concerns—home, family, romance, the convulsive desire for a prettier hat—while subtly engaging political issues and capturing an almost mystical, transcendently luminous awareness.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJoy Castro, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The urgency of de Céspedes’s elegant but unadorned prose — beautifully translated by Goldstein — gives the text a vertiginous and unnerving verisimilitude.... An inheritor of Virginia Woolf, de Céspedes’s novel anticipates the candid confessionals of writers such as Deborah Levy, Sheila Heti and Rachel Cusk.... Formally precise, psychologically rich, and suffused in suspicion and suspense, \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e is an exquisite, tormented howl.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Lucy Scholes, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Financial Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Astounding . . . \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook \u003c\/i\u003edoes not feel 71 years old. Its prose is fresh and lively, and the issues it raises more contemporary than many would hope.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eLily Meyer, \u003ci\u003eNPR \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"From the novel’s first line—“I was wrong to buy this notebook, very wrong”—the notebook is equally freighted with self-flagellating judgment and a burning, mysterious desire. Unbeknownst to her husband and children, Valeria begins to keep a record of her observations and feelings, first haltingly, then with increasing urgency and insight. Her practice of writing becomes one of shocking self-recognition, as she begins to reacquaint herself with the person she is—or could be—outside the restrictive role she plays in the family . . . it is the very smallness of “Forbidden Notebook’s” scope that makes it so powerful.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSarah Chihaya, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"The book has been newly revived by Ann Goldstein . . . Its voice remains lively and compelling, and the subjects depressingly perennial: the battle between motherhood and self-actualization; social control over women’s bodies; unpaid emotional and domestic labor; the forces of progress pressing up against the ceiling of convention . . . This is a brilliant, quietly tumultuous book and a welcome revival of an author too little known in the anglophone world.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eToby Lichtig, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The voice seizes our attention at once: forceful, clear and morally engaged . . . It’s political in a wider sense, examining a form of suppression that women recognize as global: the suppression of their thoughts.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eRoxana Robinson, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"De Cespedes' work has lost none of its subversive force. . . . \u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook \u003c\/i\u003epromises a new cohort of readers, appetites whetted by the works of Elena Ferrante, Elsa Morante and Natalia Ginzburg. Goldstein, who has a particular skill for conveying the full power of a woman’s emotional register, for locating an undertow of wrath or grief even in stated ambivalence, has reinvigorated the text.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJoumana Khatib, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A gripping slow-burn of a book. Domestic mundanity and the impulse toward freedom combine in this critique of marriage, family and fascism . . . Valeria arrives at innumerable clear-eyed epiphanies regarding gender, class and the passage of time, many of them rather unpleasant. But one of de Céspedes' points seems to be that real liberation is never comfortable or easy — a fact which, if anything, makes that state of being all the more worth pursuing.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKathleen Rooney, \u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eForbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e is a sly indictment of marriage and generational conflict, as relevant today as it was in postwar Italy.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Michael Magras, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"A fearlessly probing and candid look at marital dynamics and generational divisions, first published in Italy in 1952 . . . Goldstein’s translation invigorates a remarkable story, one that remains intensely relevant across time, cultures, and continents.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"De Céspedes deftly charts the widening gap between Valeria's increasingly desperate inner life and the roles she feels forced to play in a feminist novel that consistently calls into question the ways its narrator makes sense of her claustrophobic domestic world. A wrenching, sardonic depiction of a woman caught in a social trap.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Over the course of six months [there] are reflections on motherhood and femininity in postwar Rome that were as urgent and revelatory in the 1950s, when the novel was originally published, as they are today in post-Roe America.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJenny Wu, \u003ci\u003eThe Millions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"There’s a long tradition of fiction wrestling with mid-twentieth-century middle-class anomie, and it’s in this context that Alba de Céspedes’s \u003ci\u003eThe Forbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e can be neatly situated. But there’s also something about this book that feels furtive, including the title and the conceit behind it—i.e., that this is the record of a frustrated woman who’s been writing her thoughts in secret. It’s the kind of lively narrative in which part of the writer’s compositional skill is creating that sense of unpredictability, and the novel is all the stronger for it.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Tobias Carroll, \u003ci\u003eWords Without Borders\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"A lost feminist classic to rival Penelope Mortimer’s \u003ci\u003eThe Pumpkin Eater\u003c\/i\u003e and Betty Friedan’s \u003ci\u003eThe Feminine Mystique.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Lucy Scholes, Prospect\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The writing sparkles with candour and self-awareness as Valeria navigates the tricky transitions of midlife. She can sense the fading relevance of her family roles, but her new self-identity is still a work in progress. The novel is written in this gap, which proves to be a rich seam of stoical insight.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eRonan Hession, \u003ci\u003eThe Irish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Here is a book that demonstrates, page by page, paragraph by paragraph, that writing really can be a transformative act.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Rachel Cooke, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Guardian (UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This devastating and brilliant novel, written by a remarkable woman, deserves to become a bestseller all over again.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Claire Pettit, TLS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Reading Alba de Cespedes was, for me, like breaking into an unknown universe: social class, feelings, atmosphere.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Annie Ernaux, Nobel Prize laureate and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Years\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In her diary de Céspedes confides, “I will never be a great writer.” Here I take her to task for not knowing something about herself—for she was a great writer, a subversive writer, a writer censored by fascists, a writer who refused to take part in literary prizes, a writer ahead of her time. In my view, she is one of Italy’s most cosmopolitan, incendiary, insightful, and overlooked.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Jhumpa Lahiri\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Devastatingly good.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Joy Castro, author of \u003ci\u003eOne Brilliant Flame\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\u003ci\u003e Forbidden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Lisa Halliday, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAsymmetry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The insights Valeria gains as she writes are as intoxicating as they are painful, because they make her aware -- for the first time -- of the constraints of her own existence; rigidly delineated by morality, social anxiety and self-denial. A secret missive from a past that is not over yet. Ruthless, perceptive, suspenseful.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Judith Schalansky, author of \u003ci\u003eAn Inventory of Losses\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A quiet book that only unfurls its full rage over the course of time. The novel's progressiveness, perhaps even its scandalousness, lies in its offhandedness -- especially if you consider the time in which it was written. How writing can become an outlet for freedom... how it can do so, without one even realizing it -- this is what Alba de Céspedes reveals, in clear, unobtrusive language, allowing readers to marvel, in the reverberations of her sentences, at how topical this book still is to this day.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nino Haratischvili, author of\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e The Eighth Life\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Alba de Céspedes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49241059688665,"sku":"9781662602689","price":28.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781662602689.jpg?v=1789264378","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/forbidden-notebook-a-novel-9781662602689","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}