Luca Bianchini arrives at GO to sign copies of Le ragazze di Tunisi (Mondadori), a vibrant and colorful novel that moves and surprises readers, filled with family memories and hilarious anecdotes in a story shared by many Italians.

The Book:

“I didn’t truly know my mother’s family history until one day I started asking questions.” — Luca Bianchini

Tunis, 1959–1961. The Brancata family is one of the many Sicilian-origin families who went to Tunisia in search of America—and did not always find it. Instead, they lived peacefully alongside the French, who were still in power at the time, as well as Tunisians, Jews, and Maltese.

In this cosmopolitan setting, Maria—a beautiful, proud, and determined thirty-eight-year-old—watches her three teenage daughters grow up. She takes care of them on her own, as her husband works in the countryside and is almost always away. To cope with financial hardship, she takes on small sewing jobs at home in the Borgel neighborhood, on the ground floor of a building overlooking a courtyard where everyone knows everyone else.

Upstairs, a quiet widower courts her discreetly, but Maria is too busy keeping an eye on her girls—especially Anna, the eldest. Sixteen years old, Anna loves reading and watching ships on the horizon. Thanks to Uncle Jojo—the family’s charming Latin rogue who pays for her education—she attends one of the best schools in Tunis. Love still feels out of reach for her, but fortunately she has Marinette, her French friend, who introduces her to a world of cinema, beautiful clothes, and strolls along Avenue de France.

Constantly underfoot are her sisters: Vitina, who seems to think only about singing and gymnastics, and Pupetta, the family’s outspoken little voice of reason.

All around them is a lively city where the characters move through a suspended moment in time, caught between melancholy and uncertainty. With Tunisia’s independence, a season of farewells approaches for many. Yet it is precisely the fear of change that ignites hearts, sparks new stories, and reveals long-held secrets—within a microcosm of resentful uncles, curious neighbors, endless couscous, and anxious evenings spent in front of the television.

The Author:

Luca Bianchini was born on February 11, 1970, in Turin. He still writes in the kitchen, although he has yet to learn how to fry food as well as his mother.

Since 2003, Mondadori has published all his novels: Instant love, Ti seguo ogni notte, the biography of Eros Ramazzotti(Eros – Lo giuro), Se domani farà bel tempo, Siamo solo amici, Io che amo solo te and La cena di Natale—both adapted into highly successful films—Dimmi che credi al destino, Nessuno come noi (later brought to the big screen), So che un giorno tornerai, Baci da Polignano, Le mogli hanno sempre ragione, and Il cuore è uno zingaro.