Emma is thirty-six, has lived in London for twelve years and one morning wakes up to the realisation that she is an adult: she has a steady cat, a steady partner and a steady job at a prestigious university. She is even about to buy a house. Everything she used to call “the future” is here and now. What has brought her to this specific stage in life? What makes up her identity? It is around this question that, on a day like any other, the experiences that have marked her journey revolve: her family, her relationship with men and sex, her rapport with other women and, last but not least, the irresolvable matter of motherhood. Emma knows she has changed, and yet she still harbours doubts about her growth and evolution. Carolina Bandinelli takes us on a fast generational ride involving expats and desires, contamination and comfort, feminism and self-awareness, and never feeling good enough and not being – in spite of everything – the best. An eclectic debut full of humour and musings about the world.
Carolina Bandinelli, is Associate Professor in Media and Creative Industries at the
University of Warwick. She has contributed to cultural debates,
both in Italy and abroad, for ten years, with her views
on creative work, desire and digital media. Her research
has been featured internationally, including on the BBC, in
the New York Times and El Pais. In 2024 she wrote Le Postromantiche:
sui nuovi modi di amare (published by Laterza), a personal
essay on the culture of love and sex.
Pub date: September 2024
Length: pp. 224