Gabriella Ghermandi was born in Addis Ababa and lives in Bologna, Italy. She writes and acts in narrative plays that she produces in Italy and Switzerland. She also conducts creative writing workshops for schools. This is her first novel.Giovanna Bellesia-Contuzzi is Professor of Italian Language and Literature at Smith College. She is translator, with Victoria Offredi Poletto of Little Mother (IUP, 2011).Victoria Offredi Poletto is Senior Lecturer in Italian Emerita at Smith College.

• ForewordTranslators' NoteList of Amharic Words and Expressions The PromiseChapter OneYacob's StoryChapter TwoThe PassageAdolescenceThe AdviceThe Flower of the MonthThe Saturday Market!The ConsentThe First Day of WorkAt Legesse's ShopThe WestAnnouncement! Announcement!Arada SeferThe MoveThe First Celebration of Timket in the CapitalThe Chaos before the CalmReturn to Debre ZeitThe DepartureThe ReturnChapter ThreeThe Story of the Stupid Lion and the MonkeyChapter FourThe Story of Abbaba Igira SaloChapter FiveFarisa Alula, the GreatChapter SixThe Turtle Lady's Story Kebedech SeyoumChapter SevenThe Story of Woizero Bekelech and Signor AntonioChapter EightChapter NineNotes

Ghermandi's patient, rhapsodic compilation reflects Mahlet's own struggle with her identity as an Ethiopian and, when she relocates to Italy for her education, as a foreigner . . . This singular coming-of-age story defined by political upheaval and ancestral secrets introduces a sensitive, perceptive storyteller on the brink of womanhood.(Kirkus Reviews) Queen of Flowers and Pearls is a wonderful, absorbing new novel that is part of IU Press' Global African Voices. . . [R]eaders can be assured that Mahlet will finally discover herself and her place in the world in the course of some gratifyingly suspenseful chapters.[A] heart-wrenchingly beautiful novel.(Perspectives on History) Ghermandi weaves personal memory into collective history. . . . Queen of Flowers and Pearls offers a guiding perspective to help us form questions and seek answers from the present as well as the past. Perhaps most hopefully, it makes us consider the current repression in light of the past victories of the Ethiopian citizenry.(Washington Post)