I am grateful beyond words to each and every person involved in the delicate process of shaping this story in translation from another language.
First to Clarissa Botsford: the deepest gratitude for loving my story in its original Italian, for deciding to translate it wonderfully at her own time and risk, and for her relentless search for a publisher. Clarissa’s determination not to give up until she found one was my and this novel’s good fortune.
I also extend grateful thanks to two other translators without whom Sworn Virgin would not be complete: Ruth Christie, who translated Nâzim Hikmet’s poems from the Turkish, and John Hodgson, who translated Ismail Kadare’s foreword from the Albanian.
I cannot thank And Other Stories and Stefan Tobler enough for believing in my novel – and indeed for being crazy enough to believe in literature in translation in the first place.
And a special thank you to Sophie Lewis for her meticulous work: I could not have dreamed of a better editor.
Elvira Dones