Presentation of the novel “FOUR WOMEN”

Presentation of Emilio Jona’s novel
Four female figures saved the Jona family from Nazi-Fascist persecution.
The book’s sensitive and elegant descriptions are compelling.

It was 1943 when the members of the Jona family realized that the semblance of normality they had tried to maintain until now was endangering them. They decided to go underground, but they couldn’t do it alone, especially since their mother was seriously ill. Trust could prove fatal, and the Jonas could only count on a handful of people. Four women would demonstrate such loyalty and courage that their memory will last forever. Cecilia came from the Veneto region to care for the youngest child in the family, Cianino; she had only a cardboard suitcase and a single suit of clothing, continually mended. That work meant life to her, but she had grown fond of the putel, as she called him, as if he were her own son. And she behaves as a mother, lying and dissimulating to save him. Teresa, a housewife, and her husband Fiorenzo, a literature professor, are Giulio’s saviors, hiding him in their modest but cheerful home. For the child, the days spent with them are happy in a time of tragic abandonment, until an informer ruins everything. Marì, with her frank gaze and firm voice, for her part takes care of Emilio. She hides him in the mountains, revealing little about herself, about her childhood in Brazil, which continued in that rugged, remote valley she so closely resembles. Last but not least, Delfina, the employee at the lawyer Jona’s office, who, having shouldered the burden of that scattered family on her young shoulders, weaves the threads of distant loved ones and binds them firmly to her own existence.

The author will be in conversation with Alberto Cavaglion and Bruna Laudi.

The flyer is available