An interesting character study of 2 girls living with the background of Mussolini's control of gender, class and politics in Italy in 1936.

It shines a light on how the influence of, and obsession with another, from a different family and culture, can give you deep feelings of unconditional love and friendship attachment, but can also devastate your life... if you seek to fight the violent and powerful system.

I received this book from NetGalley and 4th Estate and William Collins | William Collins in exchange for free and honest review.

This book follows Francesca, a lonely girl who wants friends. She meets Maddalena at a bridge and that's the beginning of their friendship. Maddalena is called the cursed one after a tragic incident and she leans on that name to stop people messing with her. The story covers about a year of Francesca's life where she learns many truths about human nature, the inherent danger women/girls face, the meaning of friendship and the value of a good name in a society concerned with appearances. This was a quick and absorbing read, I recommend but advise readers to check the trigger warnings.

The translation by Elena Pala was excellent too.

An easy and enjoyable read exploring friendship and obsession and girlhood set against the backdrop of Mussolini's Italy. I did enjoy reading this, but it didn't really stand out to me as anything special.

Teenage angst; the confusion; the desire to belong; not knowing who you are - that painful crossroads between childhood and adulthood.
Many novels have explored this theme- some successfully- others less so.

Beatrice Salvoni's novel succeeds.

It is 1936 - Mussolini is in power and the tide of fascism is rising across Italy.
Francesca lives in a world where her father wants to succeed in his hat making business whatever the cost and her mother wants to ingratiate herself with the local blackshirt leading family- The Colombos; Francesca feels alone and unconnected ...however she has a growing fascination- the mysterious character of Maddalena.. The Cursed One.

Maddalena is considered evil, an omen of disaster but Francesca feels a pull towards her.

Right from the opening page when a crime is committed ...the lure and intrigue of this story pulls you in ...

How does this friendship evolve? How does the backdrop of Fascism impact upon local lives ? How far will Francesca go to be accepted ?

This is a powerful novel of loyalty, bravery and courage, the power of evil over good and the implications , the horror of conformity but ultimately it is about love and hope.

Highly recommended- not a lengthy novel but it certainly has depth and punch and is beautifully written

I am learning Italian and am interested in everything connected to Italy at the moment, and I was intrigued by the sound of the book. I found the setting intriguing and this colonisation and war period of Italy were unfamiliar to me. I loved that it was a different angle to other period books. The main story, however, didn't engage me. It was similar to My Brilliant friend, and equally left me unimpressed. The coming of age parts, the friendship group, the Cursed One - were all a bit meh. So while it was an easy read, it's not the most memorable.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC!

It feels cliché to compare an Italian woman writer’s book about two young girls forming a fierce friendship to Elena Ferrante but… I’m gonna do it anyway. Because I genuinely think that if you were a fan of the Neapolitan Novels, you’ll also really enjoy The Cursed Friend. It’s set earlier than Ferrante’s quartet, in 1930s Italy against the backdrop of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Books with a colonial slant often focus on bigger empires like the British and French, so I do appreciate the reminder of the atrocities smaller nations inflicted in the name of so-called empire. It’s also a scary reminder of how easily ‘normal’ people can bend to fascism.

But Maddalena and Francesca’s friendship is the true focus of this book, and Salvioni does an excellent job of depicting that obsessive, all-consuming bond formed between younger teenage girls. There’s a unique twist in that Maddalena is somewhat of an outcast in their town, spoken of by other children and adults alike as ‘the cursed one’. Francesca risks her own social status to be close to her.

Salvioni also tackles sexual violence among young girls in 1930s Italy, with several characters falling victim to male predators. It goes to some dark places, and the double standards and unjust treatment of women twill have you raging. Recommended if you like your female characters full of howling rage at the world.

Translated from the Italian by Elena Pala.

A homage to friendship...following two girls from very different backgrounds, as they grow into womanhood.
Set in 1930s Italy, the historical and political back drop to this story give it a great depth of interest.
I have read the Elena Ferrante novels, and this wonderfully written tale by Beatrice Salvioni stands up there with them.
I look forward to seeing more from this author.

In 1930s Italy, there are two rules for women: 1. Respect and swear to protect “the duce,” Mussolini; and 2. Be a good girl and follow the rules. This is the context in which 12-year-olds Maddalena and Francesca grow up in the small city of Monza.

Full review here: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2024/05/27/the-cursed-friend-beatrice-salvioni/

Emotionally charged and full of childhood innocence that turns into adult understanding, this novel was a pleasant surprise. I adored the main friendship between Maddalena and Francesca, they were brave and rebellious and beautiful characters that brought this book to life. I especially loved Francesca and her sheer determination to make herself heard. The political backdrop added some much needed plot depth, where the pacing perhaps lacked a little. There were so many complex moments and interactions that reflected the chaotic turbulence of the time and the fear so many felt. A truly remarkable story, with a breathtaking friendship at the centre.

A visceral and descriptive opening chapter plunged me into this book, hooked me from the start and I raced through this one. Set in 1930s Italy under the cloud of fascist rule, two girls from very different backgrounds forge a strong friendship after a traumatic event. Their very different lives and personalities allow them to teach each other new ways living as they struggle in a society gripped in patriarchy , sexism and injustice.

I loved these characters and their relationship. I get the comparisons to Ferannte but the book sparkles with originality and captures a time and place with vivid detail. A short, powerful and memorable read. Recommend.

4 stars.

'On one side was life as I knew it; on the other, the life the Cursed One had shown me. What had once seemed right now appeared distorted, like seeing your own reflection in the water when you wash your face in the sink.'

A coming-of-age novel of female friendship, set in 1930s Italy under the rule of Fascism. The Prologue opens with the two girls burying a body (that can't be good, you think) and then the story goes back to find out how they reached that point. Francesca comes from a well-respected family, Maddalena is the eponymous Cursed One, a rebel and an outcast who hangs around the streets with nefarious friends and is generally spoken of in hushed terms. The book charts their developing friendship as Francesca dares to start to be an independent woman in a critical society. As war is declared and the Abyssinian War starts, tragedy looms on the horizon,and the consequences of that dead body become all too real

Now, I have never read Elena Ferrante, and many make comparisons to 'My Brilliant Friend' that I cannot. So I judge this for how I came to it, and I enjoyed it. It's perhaps a bit formulaic, and the wider cast of characters a bit generalised into the good and the bad, but it's well-written and involving, and the ending is powerful (if a little clichéd). 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. Well worth a read.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

<I><blockquote>... the only thing females are good for is giving without asking for anything in return, like the Duce's women. Because if you're a man, the things you want, why you just go and grab them.</I></blockquote>
This is an engrossing story of female friendship set in 1930s Monza with Italy's war in Abyssinia in the background and Mussolini's fascists in power. With themes of class, gender and politics put in play, the foreground focuses on Francesca from a solid middle-class family always concerned about appearances and the poorer family of Maddalena, the eponymous 'cursed one'.

Inevitably, it's Maddalena who hoards all this reader's interest: she's rebellious to the point of anarchism. She leads a little troupe, steals what she wants and is utterly fearless. She's also a spirit of almost mystical revenge. Yet, at only about 14 or so, she's also vulnerable and scarred by a family tragedy for which she takes the blame.

Importantly, it's Maddalena who refuses any respect to existing power structures, whether of patriarchy or fascism - she will not salute Mussolini, for example, and will not be contrite.

The writing is generally fluent and involving, though having Italian girls speak of their 'mom' is jarring. But it's the vision of Maddalena which really grabbed me: simultaneously human girl turning to young womanhood, and also some kind of embodiment of a spirit of refusal that hints suggestively at witch-like and monstrous figures of chaos that exist in classical Roman myth: harpies, say. It's this merging of a female friendship story with something more transgressive which made this such a gripping and multilayered read for me.