Italy, Venuto al mondo (Mondadori)
Margaret Mazzantini
Venuto al mondo (Twice Born)
A novel, Mondadori 2008, 530 pages

Premio Campiello 2009

Twice Born is a major motion picture directed by Sergio Castellitto, starring Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch

“Mazzantini’s haunting novel, beautifully written and skillfully crafted, proves that despite the hatred exposed by war, love persists, and even flourishes.”
Publishers Weekly (full review)

“Twice Born is painted on a very broad canvas, a story that strikes universal chords.”
Irish Times (full article)

An international bestseller, a sweeping portrait of motherhood, loss and redemption.

Haunted by memories of Sarajevo’s four-year siege, Gemma reluctantly boards a flight from her native Rome to the war-scarred city with her sixteen-year-old son, Pietro. She hopes to teach Pietro about the city of his birth—and also about Diego, the father he never knew. Once in Sarajevo, however, Gemma is caught between the present and the past, and in her mind relives her love affair with Diego, their determination to start a family, and their deep connection to Sarajevo even under the looming threat of war.
In this haunting and sophisticated novel, Mazzantini masterfully probes the startling emotional territory of what makes a family—in particular what it is to be a mother. As the fate of Sarajevo converges with Gemma’s all-consuming desire to have a child, we learn just how strong and driven she really is, especially as she endures an astonishing revelation that is both heartbreaking and cathartic.

Margaret Mazzantini

Margaret Mazzantini - © Alessandro Moggi

Margaret Mazzantini was born in Dublin and lives in Rome with her husband and four children. She is the author of Il catino di zinco (1994), Manola (1999), Non ti muovere (2001, Premio Strega 2002, Premio Grinzane-Cavour, European Zepter Prize as best european book), Zorro (2002), Venuto al mondo (2008, Premio Campiello 2009), Nessuno si salva da solo (2011), Mare al mattino (2011, Premio Pavese, Premio Matteotti) and Splendore (2013). Many of her books have been successfully made into films by her husband, the actor and director Sergio Castellitto: Non ti muovere starring Penélope Cruz in 2004, Venuto al mondo with Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch in 2012, Nessuno si salva da solo with Riccardo Scamarcio and Jasmine Trinca in 2015. Mazzantini is author of the screenplay of Castellitto’s latest movie Fortunata (2017) with Jasmine Trinca who has been awarded for her performance as Best Actress, in the section “Un certain regard”, at the Cannes Film Festival.

 

 

 

“Mazzantini’s haunting novel, beautifully written and skillfully crafted, proves that despite the hatred exposed by war, love persists, and even flourishes.”
Publishers Weekly (full review)

“Twice Born is painted on a very broad canvas, a story that strikes universal chords.”
Irish Times (full article)

“Margaret Mazzantini writes books sold in hundreds of thousands of copies. Her new novel tells of a love in wartime… It is a book that flows as smoothly as a sigh.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (full review)

“Mazzantini’s depictions of love, maternal and romantic, are powerfully raw.”
Kirkus Review (full review)

“A book that honours the art of fiction.”
Tuttolibri

“Great, generous, full of life.”
l’Unità

Foreign rights sold in
Albania: Ombra
Argentina: Lumen
Bosnia: Buybook
Brazil: Companhia das Letras
Bulgaria: Colibri
Colombia: Lumen
Croatia: Algoritam
France: Robert Laffont, 10/18
Germany: DuMont
Hungary: Cartaphilus
Israel: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir
Latvia: Apgads Atena
Mexico: Grijalbo
The Netherlands: Wereldbibliotheek
Poland: Sonia Draga
Portugal: Bertrand
Romania: Polirom
Russia: Azbooka
Serbia: BeoBook
Slovakia: Inaque
Slovenia: Mladinska Knjiga Zalozba
Spain (Castillan): Lumen, DeBolsillo
Spain (Catalan): Rosa dels Vents
Turkey: Doğan Kitap
UK: OneWorld
US: Viking Penguin

Italian and international editions

Foreign publishers of Margaret Mazzantini’s works

Albania: Ombra
Bosnia: Buybook
Brazil: Companhia das Letras
Bulgaria: Colibri
China: Lijang Pub
Croatia: Znanje, Algoritam
Czech Republic: Euromedia
Denmark: Samleren
Finland: WSOY
France: Robert Laffont, 10/18
Germany: Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, btb, DuMont
Greece: Oceanida
Hungary: Tericum, Cartaphilus
Israel: Kinneret 
Zmora-Bitan Dvir
Japan: Soshisha
Latvia: Apgads Atena
Lithuania: Alma Littera
Macedonia: Terra Magica
Mexico: Grijalbo, Alfaguara
The Netherlands: Wereldbibliotheek
Norway: Gyldendal
Poland: Muza, Sonia Draga
Portugal: Dom Quixote, Bertrand
Romania: Polirom
Russia: Azbooka
Serbia: Plato, Beobook
Slovenia: Mladinska Knjiga Zalozba
South Korea: Munhakdongne
Spain and Latin America (Castillan): Salamandra, Quinteto, Lumen, DeBolsillo, Alfaguara
Spain (Catalan): La Magrana, Rosa dels Vents
Sweden: Bonniers, Lindelöws
Taiwan: Crown
Thailand: Gamme Magie
Turkey: CAN Yayinlari, Doğan Kitap
UK: Chatto & Windus, OneWorld
US: Nan A. Talese, Anchor Books, Doubleday, Viking Penguin

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