Synopsis

Padua, 1950s. Teresa works as a concierge in a downtown building. Behind a modest and seemingly insignificant appearance, she hides a burning secret.
In December 1943, when she was sixteen, returning from a meeting under the arcades of Piazza delle Erbe with the boy she's in love with, she witnesses the arrest of the Jewish family for whom she works and who has educated her and taught her to read. Just before being taken away by the soldiers, the mistress entrusts her with her youngest child: Amos, with enormous dark eyes and a strawberry birthmark on the back of his neck. But someone informs her, and Teresa is forcibly separated from her child and, as punishment, locked up in a mental institution.
Years later, she continues to think about that child. Will he still be alive? What kind of person will he have become? And how far will she have to go to keep her word? She works for the wealthy Pozzo women, so different from the loving Mrs. Levi or the large family she grew up with in the countryside, and meanwhile searches for Amos.
Until another twist of fate offers her the long-awaited opportunity: there's a commitment to honor, a truth to deliver before the door at Vicolo Sant'Andrea 9 swings open for the last time and she's finally free to start over.
Drawing on historical events and childhood memories, Manuela Faccon paints a portrait of a unique woman, yet, like so many others, fragile on the inside, yet strong on the outside, for others. An intimate and intense novel about female dignity, about the sacrifices that loyalty entails, both to others and to oneself. A powerful, new voice, yet with an ancient musicality.
The 1950s.
The concierge at Vicolo Sant'Andrea 9 hides a secret. Now, finally, the time has come to speak.