Elisa Puricelli Guerra: Un Ciclone In Salotto (A Cyclone In The Living Room* originally published by Giunti Editore in 2012)
Elisa Puricelli Guerra: La trisnonna in cima all’albero (Great-great-grandmother at the top of the tree* originally published by Giunti Editore in 2012)
Elisa Puricelli Guerra was born in Milan, Italy. She always dreamed of being a writer (or an astronaut or a witch) and her love of books was born when her mother read her the Pippi Longstocking books. Like Pippi, Guerra also has red hair and this caused her a lot of problems. She never got away with anything at school because her flaming red hair always caught the attention of the teachers. As a writer, the protagonists of her stories are often redheads, but in return they are extra skilled, so they get away with a little more than her. Guerra also works as a freelance writer and translator, but she would be happiest if she could make a living from reading.
Leo’s mother is a journalist for the Rai television company in Rome, but soon she will be going on a big trip: she will travel the world for a whole year to make reports and first, she will work in Africa. Unfortunately, she cannot take Leo with her on this trip, so the boy has to move to his father, Jacopo, and his new family in Milan. Although his parents divorced when Leo was two years old, the boy did not meet the new family much until now, because usually, his father visited him. Life is always happening in the Guerreri apartment: her father’s new wife, Aurora, is always cooking because she owns a food delivery business, Estella is the older daughter of Aurora and she is preparing for drama school, so she is always practicing, Elettra is the younger daughter and she wants to be an astronomer, and there is Toto, Jacopo and Aurora’s little son wo always wants to help someone, but it usually ends in disaster. Everyone welcomes Leo with joy, except for his step-sister Elettra, who is not happy that she has to share her father with Leo. They are like what we imagine a real Italian family to be, while the different members of the family make room for each other on the hundred-year-old sofa, which has a separate history and is almost part of the family. Among the lovingly written everyday stories, while we get to know more and more relatives, the family tree of Leo and Elettra is revealed to us, the branches of which intertwine each other and all kinds of fruits grow among its leaves.
The series has six volumes, but unfortunately we can read only two of them in Hungarian. In addition, several books have been published for children by the author, the Minerva Mint series is also available in English.
*my translation
