This book deserves to be read, remembered and stored inside our heart forever. I have no other word to describe what I felt when I read this work written by Italian writer Simona Sparaco and titled: “None knows about us”. This title is my translation into English of the original Italian title of the book, namely. “ Nessuno sa di noi”. The author got other her books translated into English and it is probable this book will be translated into the English language very soon. The book focuses around a burning topic of our time: the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, also called therapeutic abortion.
When can an abortion be defined therapeutic? When, after a prenatal screening, a mother finds out that her baby is misshapen. “ None knows about us” tells right about this: a couple of lovers who are waiting the birth of their first child. The members of the couple are Luce, a journalist, and Pietro, a businessman and the son of the chief of an important Italian company.
After several attempts of sex on command aimed to conceive their desired child, Pietro and Luce are overjoyed when they learn she is pregnant. But, one day, after a prenatal test, the gynaecologist reveals that the baby has a severe malformation, a rare form of dwarfism, also called skeletal dysplasia. After the upsetting news, the couple goes through a hell of grief, depression, desperation, suffering that lead them to make a dreadful decision: the voluntary interruption of pregnancy.
The surgery is carried out in London, because in Italy, the voluntary interruption of pregnancy is a crime after seven months. Luce agrees to lose her baby, called Lorenzo, but after the decision, she endures all the torment, the weakness and the guilt, that only a woman who lived the same experience can know. None can know about the awful experience of the characters of the book, and the title (None knows about us) indeed, is very suitable to describe the plot and the meaning of the story.
Luce senses indifference coming from her friends and relatives, the others seems to be embarrassed about her story, other people, included her partner, Pietro, prefer not to talk about her failed pregnancy. But the experience of this woman opens an entire world of reflections, thoughts, doubts and questions, like these: Is it right to interrupt a pregnancy because a child is misshaped? Didn’t the Nazis do the same when they shot and killed disabled persons? Who are we to decide when a child has to birth or die before to be arrived into the world? A child is a living being, not a good that we may refuse since he is not as we would.
These are the same questions that Luce asks in the book. The same questions every woman would ask in the same condition. I must confess I cried many times during this reading, I couldn’t keep my tears every once I opened and browse the pages of the book. Maybe because the plot is very current and felt or because it is well written, or because it is contains all the great truths about birth, life and death we often hide inside our soul. This book drives us to wonder: And me, What would I do if I should endure the same experience of the characters of the book? Give birth to my malformed son or abort?
At last, the book does not resolve the hard issue of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, and does not reply to many questions asked by this story. But inside the book, there are the human weakness and frailty, a world shaken by a great grief and a love story that little by little tries to go forward to retrieve a bit of peace and forgiveness. This is a real story of damnation and resurrection, of hell and heaven. The voice of Simona Sparaco is so powerful and heartfelt that it shakes our soul. The book shook my soul, really, and I am sure it will do the same to you.
Rosalba Mancuso is the journalist, born in Sicily, who founded three online magazines in English. On Advicebooks Book Reviews, Rosalba shows her great passion for books, helping readers and book lovers choose and buy the best books she read and reviewed. She also worked as a contributor to print and online magazines and as a bilingual Italian-English writer. Here, Rosalba also offers room to authors and publishers who want to get their books reviewed through the voice of an avid reader like her. You must also know that this book review magazine lives thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you buy books through the affiliate links you find in her book reviews. This book review magazine is also funded by services of editorial reviews and book press releases.
