Driven by the fear of encroaching death, an elderly woman describes to a write a long letter to her granddaughter, in the shape of a diary. Part love letter and part confession, it is most importantly a bequest from an old woman at last brave enough to acknowledge that she has too long repressed her feelings and submitted to convention. Reliving everything that has happened to her she seeks to remind her granddaughter that the one worthwhile journey in life to the centre of oneself, in search of that original voice we all guard deep inside.

Susanna Tamaro was born in Trieste in 1957 and is the author ofFollow Your Heart.

Winner of the Premio Donna Citta di Roma 1994 and an international bestseller, this is a profoundly moving and beautifully crafted meditation on existence.