Elias Portolu: The Classic Story of a Sardinian Shepherd in Crisis

Returning to his Sardinia home after a stint in a prison on the Italian mainland, young Elias desperately wants to be an obedient son, a hard-working shepherd, and a loyal brother, and his initial progress in that direction raises his devout mother’s hopes that her youngest boy is back on the path of righteousness.
But when Elias falls in love with the wrong woman, he quickly finds himself battling sin, and is willing to go to any length to overcome it.
Deledda poignantly unfolds the tale of a fundamentally tortured soul, a young man torn between good and evil, between being a man of God or a mortal man with desires of the flesh, between his duty to his family and his only chance at happiness.
Elias Portolu is a fascinating glimpse into a vanished world of modest, humble, hard-working Sardinian shepherds and farmers enjoying life as they eke out an existence on the sometimes harsh but always beautiful Mediterranean island at the turn of the twentieth century.
First published in 1903, Elias Portolu continues to resonate with readers today because Deledda’s crisp, direct prose tells an engaging story that doesn’t seem outdated in either theme or style.
Before there was Elena Ferrante, Natalia Ginzburg, or Elsa Morante, Grazia Deledda was a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 (one of only six Italians, and the only Italian woman, to date, to receive this prestigious award).
Now, this early novel is readily available in a fresh, modern English translation.