I’m absolutely thrilled to share with you my good news: my book Bottled Goods has been published in Italy as Bottigliette by Keller Editore. I’m immensely in love with the Italian cover (lots of little hints about what happens in the book hidden in the tiny clues) and absolutely bowled over to see the words I wrote translated into another language. Excuse all my adverbs, but as an author, it feels like a huge moment and I’m so grateful for all the work that hides behind the beautiful finished copies of Bottigliette. I never thought I’d be here when I wrote my little Romanian narrative-in-flash, much less when rejection after rejection from publishers piled up all the way back in 2017.
This publication is so important to me. More than a million Romanians live in Italy and I do hope that my story will reach them and remind them about living with power cuts, endless queuing, just a few hours of television per day. But I equally hope that the wider Italian public will read this story of freedom and oppression and perhaps understand a bit more about these people who have left their homes in search for a better life. The exodus from Romania to the magical West has continued well after the Revolution of 1989 (well, I should know, since I emigrated myself).
I’m so grateful to all the people who believed in me and made this possible: the team from my UK publisher Fairlight Books, the judges of the prizes where Bottled Goods was Longlisted (the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize among them), to Mr. Roberto Keller and to my lovely and thorough translator Elvira Grassi (Elvira, if you’re reading this, it was a huge pleasure to work with you).
Here’s the link to the book on my Italian publisher’s website. If you enjoyed my book, I don’t mind if you tell an Italian friend:
https://www.kellereditore.it/prodotto/bottigliette-sophie-van-llewyn/
Sophie van Llewyn 