Ben's birth—Anna's baby brother, born with severe disability—marks a turning point in a twelve-year-old girl's life. Anna is entering a phase already difficult under ordinary circumstances: her body is changing in ways that unsettle her; friendships beyond the family circle grow suddenly important; first love stirs; she bristles at her parents' overprotective care even as she needs their guidance. She wants to be treated as old enough to handle responsibility. She is taking the first uncertain steps toward independence.
Ben's presence complicates everything. With her friends, Anna will struggle to talk about him, to introduce him, to explain. She must also carry her parents' grief, her sister's moods, misunderstandings, jealousy, absence, depression, disappointment.
Yet Anna falls in love with Ben. The moments she shares with him make her stronger, more sensitive—more alert to the hidden pain in others.
The novel unfolds through Anna's eyes in plain, honest prose. Each scene is small, ordinary, but charged with real feeling—both bright and dark. Young readers will find themselves in these pages. The Italian title, regrettably, misses the true spirit of the book and strays from the original.
- Cristina Tersigni, 1999