Raving Press for Zora del Buono’s THE MARSHALESS

From her grandmother, Zora del Buono inherited not only her first name, but also a family catastrophe – Zora senior was caught up in a robbery and murder. This major family novel tells that story and its consequences and receives raving press for doing so:

»What else does Zora del Buono have to do to reap the fame she deserves? Her latest novel THE MARSHALESS is yet another great literary success.« Eva Menasse, DIE ZEIT

»An entire stirring century is reflected in the life story of this woman: Zora Del Buono, a stubborn, decisive Slovenian (…) Her granddaughter, the Swiss author and architect Zora del Buono, has packed this mad biography into a gripping novel.« – freundin
 
»Del Buono created a heroine as tough as she is interesting. From her biography, a story of the 20th century emerges, favouring the unusual, but never slipping into the curious. The fact that the novel is stylistically [also] an unheard-of pleasure, without any phrase or pretension, makes it a double happy special case.« – SPIEGEL

»The best German-language novel of the fall was written by the Swiss author Zora del Buono, a rich, adventurous, true-to-life activist novel.« – SPIEGEL

»A novel of the century. « – SPIEGEL Online

»A wonderful novel, up-to-date. World history has written itself into this woman’s life.« – SRF 52 Best books

»the novel is stylistically an unheard-of pleasure.« – Spiegel Online

»‚The Marshalless‘ not only creates a fascinating, contradictory figure, but also brings a whole era to life, and we move in amazement through a world in which multiculturalism was part of everyday life.« – Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»A sweet and stylishly told novel.« – Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»The strength of the book is that all the characters are as alive and vital as if the author had been there.« – SRF Literature Club

»A brilliant narrative architect.« – Schweiz am Wochenende

»Del Buono’s book is what literature is supposed to be: surprising, unpredictable, patient, full of details, profound, non-moralizing and free of clichés. What del Buono does is art.« – Die Weltwoche

»Precisely drawn miniatures that combine to form a panorama full of life.« – Gießner Anzeiger

»detailed, complex and refined as Zora’s house in Bari. Entering a new chapter in her novel is like opening a door to a new room in Zora’s grandmother’s life, in which unknown abysses open up: criminals and fascists, political exile and ideological blindness, homophobia and corruption, misogyny and elitism disguised as cosmopolitanism. (…) On Netflix, „The Marshalless“ would be classified under „films with strong women.« – taz

»382 pages full of life that show us a family destiny that we will not forget so quickly. A great epic.«  – Freunde der Künste

»An exciting history lesson.« – Blick

»You can hardly find a livelier novel with more interesting characters at the moment.« – Kölner Stadtanzeiger

»Strong female figure with an agile, open mind.« – Tages-Anzeiger

The young Slovenian Zora meets her future husband, the radiology professor Pietro Del Buono, at the end of the First World War. She follows him to Bari in southern Italy, where the two convinced communists lead a bourgeois and yet politically active life in the resistance against Mussolini’s fascism. Zora is domineering, impressive, temperamental and talented, an admirer of Josip Broz Tito, to whom she tries to deliver weapons and whose life her husband saves. She wants to be more than she is capable of, yet she puts her stamp on everyone around her. Her life and the lives of her family, children and grandchildren take place in a time of wars and violence, embittered territorial and ideological battles that have shaped our world to this day. In a magnificent closing monologue, Zora Del Buono senior finishes the telling of her story, a story of love, battles, hate and treachery. „The Marshaless” is a colourful novel packed full of life, about an unforgettable woman and a tragic family fate.  

Rights sold to Italy (Keller)