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Italian novelist and screenwriter Francesca Melandri talks about her bestselling work of family, conflict and forgiveness, Eva Sleeps.

The novel was a bestseller in Italy and is the first of Melandri’s novels to be translated into English. It is a family story set against the backdrop of struggles and conflicts in the border region of Northern Italy and Austria. Eva, a 40-year-old PR professional, receives a call from seriously ill retired police officer Vito who wants to see her one last time. It is an opportunity for Eva to find out what happened in 1960s South Tyrol between Vito and his lover, the beautiful Gerda, sister of a terrorist and from the opposite side of the ethnic divide.

Eva Sleeps sold over 50,000 copies in Italy and was Italian Elle’s book of the year. It is being made into a feature film.

Here she talks to Professor Martin McLaughlin, Agnelli-Serena Professor of Italian Studies and fellow of Magdalen College.

This event is part of the festival’s Italian day.

Presented by the Italian Cultural Institute.