THE LETTER CARRIER

THE LETTER CARRIER by Francesca Giannone

The Letter Carrier is a novel that was originally published in Italy. After its huge success (Italy 's bestseller in 2023), the book has since been translated into 39 languages including English. You can imagine the feeling and emotion written into the pages especially when you know its origins.

The Letter Carrier is the story of Anna Allavena set in the 1930s. Coming to her husband's village in South Italy, Anna (from the north) is known as an outlander to the locals. She's very different from them refusing to conform to their ideas of a woman's place in the home. Tired of staying at home, she applies for the job of the local letter carrier at the post office. Amazingly, she is hired, and this begins her in-road into the secret lives of the villagers she lives beside.

Admittedly, I have only read about 25% of this book, so I can't speak to how everything plays out. However, I have to say that this book has made me incredibly sad. There are so many affairs going on, because people are not happy in their marriages and lives. There is also some type of relationship going on with a young woman named Giovanni and a man that resides at a parish. (It doesn't say what his exact role is.) Because of his location and the sexual content of their letters, Anna comes up with the idea of hiding their notes back and forth to each other under the stamp on the envelope. Essentially, Anna, who has been an unaccepted outcast, becomes a lifeline for "happiness" While this is going on, her husband is having an affair with his old girlfriend who is married, and Anna and her husband's brother have strong chemistry starting to form between them. That's as far as I got.