All our yesterdays - Natalia Ginzburg

In a small town in northern Italy the darting figure of Signora Maria could be seen in the early morning, collecting dung with a little shovel to manure her rose-trees. She kept house for an old anti-fascist and his children Ippolito, Concettina, Giustino and Anna. Across the street lived Emmanuele, Amalia and Giuma, whose father owned the soap factory.

Then the war came.

This is the story of two families and how the children grow into the Second World War and its aftermath. At the heart of the novel is Anna. After a youthful indiscretion, she is married off to Cenzo Rena, an eccentric family friend. All the characters learn war's cruel, momentous lessons. Natalia Ginzburg provides a classic account of how people struggle from adolescence into the adult world. This is also a political novel, the second part following Anna and Cenzo into the poorest regions of southern Italy, recalling Christ Stopped at Eboli, and witnessing to the beginning of radical change.