Because You Smiled at Me
Paola Calvetti
Bompiani
Year: 2006
Pages: 209
How does a mother choose to love one child over the other?
Nora is having a midlife crisis. She is no longer certain that she loves her husband, her teenage daughter does not respect her, and she is unsatisfied with her job. When she discovers that her mother is dying, she returns home to assist her during her final, bedridden days. The visit becomes traumatic when she finds remnants of the past – love letters, vinyl records, a birth certificate…
Nora’s shock at the possibility of having a sister compels her to confront her mother, but truth is not easily told when one is condemned to silence.