La bambinaia francese by Bianca Pitzorno

She finds a “baby” on the doorstep, but the baby turns out to be a piglet. She returns to the orphanage from which she is adopted to seek clues about the identity of her biological parents. Polissena del Porcello, for instance, begins with the young girl’s discovery that she is not the daughter of the couple who have raised her. She also makes use of fantasy settings and fairy tale like settings in an unspecified historical era. She regards this period as Italy’s own childhood, “a period of new beginnings…of material deprivation combined with exciting plans for the future”, and she believes that the connection between the country’s “infancy” and her characters’ development is one reason why her books are so popular. Many are historical novels, although her favorite period is that of her own childhood, the late 1940s and early 1950s. Pitzorno’s interest in history and the classics is readily evident in many of her works. Regarded as Italy’s most important living author, Pitzorno unashamedly writes primarily for and about girls.

About one third of her books have been translated, often into several languages.

She became an author of books for girls at the age of 28, and has so far produced over 40 novels and picture books for children and teenagers, as well as plays for theater, and screen and song lyrics. After a formal education in archeology and classical literature, Pitzorno began her career producing television programs. Bianca Pitzorno was born in Sassari in 1942, but lives and works in Milan.

La bambinaia francese by Bianca Pitzorno