Fabula’s literary evening – Zora del Buono: The Marshaless

Die Marschallin (The Marshaless) is a multi-layered family saga chronicling the life's journey of a young Slovenian, Zora Ostan. Zora meets her future husband, the radiology professor Pietro Del Buono, at the end of World War I in Bovec. After marriage, they lead a quite, bourgeois, yet politically active life as convinced communists who join the resistance against Mussolini’s fascism. Zora is a temperamental, determined, talented woman; an admirer of Josip Broz Tito, who rewards her for her part in the national liberation struggle. Her discrete and competent husband Pietro advises Tito on medical issues. The portrait of the marshaless Zora, the writer’s grandmother, is intertwined with the fates of her loved ones in the first part of the novel, while the second part of the novel turns into Zora’s monologue before her (assumed) death. Zora del Buono created a memorable monument to her grandmother in this precise, complex and witty novel. She shows her life that took place in a time of wars and violence, embittered territorial and ideological battles that have shaped our world to this day and gives an excellent impression of the dramatic time that was the 20th century.

The novel was translated by Mojca Kranjc.

Zora del Buono (1962) was born in Zurich. After studying architecture, she spent several years working as an architect in Berlin. She is a co-founder of the magazine mare, where she worked as an editor and author. She published her debut novel Canitz’ Verlangen in 2008, immediately attracting positive attention of readers and critics. She later published three more novels and written two travelogues. Her novel Big Sue (2010) won the 2012 ITB Book Award. Her latest, widely popular work is the family novel The Marshaless (2020). The story centres on her grandmother – a strong-natured woman and a staunch communist who not only admired Tito but was also involved in a serious robbery. Zore del Buono lives and works between the US, Switzerland and Germany.