Juliet, the English wife of a Roman industrialist, Lorenzo Gherardi, is woken in the middle of the night by a telephone call to learn that her husband has just died in a bomb explosion to the north of the city while at the wheel of his car. Due to his left-wing views, the public, friends, even Lorenzo's mother have suspicions that he has been transporting explosives for terrorists. This is the era of the Red Brigades and any involvement in terrorism carries severe punishment. Juliet is grilled by a magistrate called Carosi—a sinister character, with a sulphurous whiff of Pluto about him. How can she prove that her husband is innocent, and that she is innocent—that it was almost certainly the Neofascists who planted the bomb to discredit the Left? Can she cushion her son from pain and block family interference as she frantically digs for the truth?
I had a scrappy education in England, Italy and France. First tried to be a secretary but was no good at that, then passed to translating - no great shakes at that either. At twenty I married an Italian doctor and had two daughters, Sophie and Connie (my best creations, I reckon). In my mid-thirties, with parental duties becoming lighter, I patched up my education a bit by learning German and taking a degree in Philosophy at London University, with a view to getting a job at the Uni here in Rome where I live. Was told, 'Come back next year and we may have something for you', so filled in the gap by writing my first novel, Strange Loop. Amazingly (because it is shockingly overwritten and is saved only by having a terrific story under all the wuffle), it found a publisher.
After that I let go Philosophy and turned to writing full time. Recently, however, I have tried my hand at translation again - with much better results - and the product, Marlen Haushofer's masterpiece'The Loft', is shortly to appear with Quartet Books. You can visit my blog at: http://amanda-prantera.blogspot.com
