TEHRAN-A Persian translation of Italian novelist and playwright Michela Murgia’s book “Accabadora” has recently been published by Hermes Publications in Tehran.

The book has been translated into Persian by Vida Ameri. 

Published in 2009, "Accabadora" has been translated into numerous languages, including English and Chinese. With this work, Murgia won the Narrative Section of the Premio Dessi in September 2009. It also received the prestigious Super Mondello award in May 2010, the most important recognition of the Mondello Prize, and in September of the same year, it was awarded the Campiello Prize.

Set in the early 1950s in Soreni, a small Sardinian village where everyone knows everyone else's business but pretends not to, the story revolves around Maria Listru, the last and unwanted of four orphaned sisters. Maria becomes a "filla de anima"—children born twice, from a poor woman and a sterile woman—of Bonaria Urrai, a wealthy woman who has never married. Maria and Bonaria, a seamstress, live as mother and daughter, though both are aware they are not related by blood. The novel reveals that Bonaria chose to adopt Maria after seeing her steal cherries, an act that symbolized the beginning of her awareness of guilt and morality.

Though Bonaria’s adoption of Maria might seem partly motivated by interest, Maria has always seen herself as "the last" in every sense. She is surprised by the respect and care her new mother offers, providing her with shelter, education, and hope for the future. However, Bonaria is a mysterious figure, shrouded in silence and wearing black, with ancient wisdom about life and death. She is an "accabadora," a traditional Sardinian figure who, when truly called upon, ends the suffering of the dying with a compassionate death.

Maria eventually learns the full truth about Bonaria’s role and must confront her own beliefs about euthanasia. The novel leaves the reader to decide whether Maria has taken her foster mother’s life, ending her suffering. 

SAB/