PER DIECI MINUTI

Chiaria, the protagonist of this heart-warming and reassuring novel gets dumped by her beloved husband. Her therapist tells her to try something new every day for 10 minutes. This is her story.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes a day. Every day. For a month. Ten minutes for you. To do a new thing, a thing you’ve never done before. Ten minutes when your life is ruined and all you had no longer exists. Ten minutes to resist the temptation to contemplate the ruins, instead of looking forward. Ten minutes to be back on your feet when you’re lost, when you feel lost.

Then Chiaria paints her nails pink fuchsia. She learns to play violin and prepares pancakes with Nutella. She, the woman who does not even know how to cook spaghetti. She joins a hip hop class and walks backwards in the streets. She grows lettuce and pepper and asks her mother to talk about her. She gives her mobile phone to a passer-by saying: “Choose a number from the list and send a text I LOVE YOU”.

And slowly, time ceases to be an enemy, and it becomes an ally.

The world seems new, because you are new. And, even though you do not realize it, you begin to live again.

Chiara Gamberale was born in 1977. She holds a degree in Film History from the University of Bologna. She writes and runs broadcasts for the national TV and Radio networks (Rai Tre and Radio Due); she writes in “La Stampa”, “Vanity Fair” and runs a popular blog on the website of “Il Corriere della Sera”.