The Four Winters
Romina Casagrande
Garzanti
Year: 2025
Pages: 368
Maia has always trusted the story of her past, convinced she was cherished and protected by her adoptive parents. But when she discovers she is expecting a child, long-buried questions begin to surface. In a forgotten trunk in the attic, she finds fragments of another life—photographs, newspaper clippings, and cryptic notes that unravel the certainty of her childhood.
Her search leads her to the remote valleys of Trentino-Alto Adige, where whispers of a hidden community of women and children echo across the mountains. There, Maia uncovers the intertwined fates of Esther, Agata, and Tamilè—three women bound by secrets—and the six “wild children” they raised in isolation. What emerges is a story of maternal love pushed to the extreme, of faith warped by obsession, and of wounds that cross generations.
As past and present converge, Maia must face the truth that has been waiting for her all along: the answers she seeks are not only about where she came from, but about who she must choose to become.
Rights sold:
Arabic (Dar Shafaq)