There is a true story and there is a novel. The true story is that of Franca Viola, the Sicilian girl who in the mid-60s was the first, after being subjected to violence, to refuse the so-called "reparative marriage". The novel takes inspiration from that event, evokes and reconstructs it, reinventing reality in the magical order of storytelling. At the beginning, Oliva is a fifteen-year-old girl who in Italy of those years, where the law established that if the perpetrator of the crime of carnal violence then married the "offended party", the sentence would be automatically extinguished (even if against a minor), seeks her place in the world. Oliva narrates her story to us, now an adult, in reverse, from when she was a young girl entering into life until the moment when, with a decision that arouses scandal and amazement especially because it is unprecedented and revolutionary, she refuses the traditional "reconciliation" and says no to violence and abuse. A story of growth and emancipation that explores the contradictions of love (between fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters) and sneaks into the ambiguities of desire, which flatters and frightens. But Oliva, just like Franca Viola, decides to be the protagonist of her own choices, surrounded by a family that learns with her and thanks to her to overcome blackmail, stereotypes, and conventions. A father who frequents silence and doubt, but who will be able to tell his daughter "if you stumble, I will support you," and a mother who, initially more inclined to give in to bullying and fatalism, will finally be able to break the chains of submissiveness and shame. Thanks to the clear, poetic, theatrical, and imaginative writing of Viola Ardone, Oliva Denaro thus becomes the story of all women who still today think and fear not having a choice, forced by an archaic and indecent law (rape until 1981 was considered only outrage to morality and not a crime against the person) to accept a tormentor and rapist within the walls of their home. A story of yesterday and today, which speaks of freedom, civilization, and redemption.
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