When Mrs. A. first enters the narrator s home, his wife, Nora, is experiencing a
difficult pregnancy. First as their maid and nanny, then their confidante, this
older woman begins to help her employers negotiate married life, quickly becomi
ng the glue in their small household. She is the steady, maternal influence for
both husband and wife, and their son, Emanuele, whom she protects from his paren
ts expectations and disappointments. But the family s delicate fabric comes undo
ne when Mrs. A. is diagnosed with cancer. Moving seamlessly between the past and
present, Giordano highlights with remarkable precision the joy of youth and the
fleeting nature of time. An elegiac, heartrending, and deeply personal portrait
of marriage and the people we choose to call family, this is a jewel of a novel
short, intense, and unforgettable."
