For a living Bonaria works as a dressmaker for both women and men, a profession which she teaches to Maria. She insists that Maria goes to school for longer than most villagers consider necessary and doesn't allow the Listru to exploit her when they need someone to help out.

Bonaria isn't a very affectionate person – maybe because her dream of marriage was crushed by World War I which robbed her of her fiancé, maybe because it has always been her nature –, but she treats Maria well and instils strong principles in the girl. Maria perceives leaving her family of origin to live with her new mother, whom she will always call Tzia Bonaria, as her second birth. Maria's mother gladly accepts with the secret hope of profiting indirectly from the relative wealth of Bonaria Urrai. When Bonaria Urrai, an unmarried woman in her late fifties, observes at the grocer's how ill the girl is treated by her mother, she decides to take her as a 'fill'e anima' (a 'soul child' translated literally into English) which is an informal kind of adoption common in Sardinia for centuries. Six-year-old Maria Listru is the unwanted fourth daughter of a widow who has a hard time feeding her family. The story of Accabadora is set in the small Sardinian village Soreni in the early 1950s. Her latest published works are the narrative L'incontro ( The Encounter) and her contribution to the diary of four Italian writers titled Presente ( Present). Her biggest success so far is the bestselling novel Accabadora from 2009 which received several literary awards and has been translated into many languages. Her debut novel Il mondo deve sapere ( The World Must Know) developed from a blog about her experiences working in a call centre and came out as a book in 2006. She studied Roman Catholic theology and worked among others as religious studies teacher and a saleswoman. Michela Murgia was born in Cabras, Sardinia, Italy in June 1972.

Accabadora by michela murgia