Pushkin Press acquires third novel by rediscovered writer De Céspedes

Pushkin Press has acquired a third novel by rediscovered Italian-Cuban writer Alba de Céspedes (1911–97).

Adam Freudenheim acquired world English rights in Nessuno Torna Indietro (There’s No Turning Back) from Anna Garbarino at Mondadori. The novel, the author’s debut, was banned in Italy by the fascist government on first publication in 1938. 

As with de Céspedes’ Forbidden Notebook, translated by Ann Goldstein and scheduled for publication by Pushkin on 2nd March, the publisher has sub-licensed North American rights to Alessandra Bastagli at Astra House, via Johanna Castillo at Writers House.

Pushkin will also publish de Céspedes’s Her Side of the Story early next year in a new translation by Jill Foulston. Nessuno Torna Indietro will follow in late 2024, translated by Goldstein. 

Freudenheim said: “It’s hugely exciting to be publishing new translations of this long-forgotten and overlooked writer who is now receiving the acclaim—and finding the readers—she deserves. What I love about her work is that it feels incredibly timely and relevant and is so page-turning at the same time."

De Céspedes was a bestselling Italian-Cuban feminist writer. In 1935, she was jailed for her anti-fascist activities in Italy. Two of her novels were banned—Nessuno Torna Indietro (1938) and La Fuga (1940). In 1943, she was again imprisoned for her involvement with Radio Partigiana in Bari where she was a Resistance radio personality known as Clorinda. After the war, she moved to Paris, where she lived until her death.