Antonella Lettieri On Translating Roberta Recchia’s All That is Left of Life

Roberta Recchia’s debut novel All That is Left of Life is set in Rome during the 1980s and follows three generations of the Ansaldo family after the murder of 16-year-old Betta. The story centers on Betta’s cousin Miriam, who survives the attack but hides her presence at the crime scene out of guilt. Miriam later develops a drug addiction before finding redemption through Leo, a small-time drug dealer. The novel explores how different characters cope with grief and trauma over three decades. Published in Italy in 2023, it became a bestseller with over 200,000 copies sold domestically and remains on bestseller lists 2.5 years later. The book balances large, dramatic scenes with smaller, intimate moments, creating a vivid portrayal of emotional resilience.

Antonella Lettieri, a translator, was approached to translate All That is Left of Life before its Italian publication in late 2023. She agreed after reading the manuscript over the holidays, describing the experience as emotionally impactful—she cried while reading a pivotal scene on a flight home. Lettieri’s first draft served as a fact-finding mission to identify challenges in translating the novel’s pacing and nuances. She emphasized that translations often expand in length, but preserving the original’s taut storytelling was critical. Her process involved multiple drafts to refine tone and voice, focusing on small details like word repetitions, gestures, and social class cues that shape character development.

One major challenge was maintaining the novel’s propulsive storytelling in English without losing its emotional depth. Lettieri noted that the excerpt on Lit Hub demonstrates how Recchia’s craft balances multiple perspectives—family, police, and town—while keeping the narrative focused. Lettieri’s technique involved prioritizing the novel’s unstoppable drive over explicit explanations, trusting readers to infer meaning from subtle details. She also highlighted the importance of preserving the balance between large, choral moments and smaller, intimate scenes, such as a quiet moment between Stelvio and Marisa in a dairy or Marisa’s jealousy of another character.

The novel’s Italian release coincided with Lettieri’s translation work, allowing her to observe its reception firsthand. Its success became evident as it gained a devoted fanbase, with booksellers recommending it, book clubs discussing it, and social media buzzing. The word-of-mouth popularity remained strong, contributing to its status as one of Italy’s biggest publishing successes in recent years. Lettieri expressed pride in bringing the novel to North American readers, describing her role as a bridge between cultures. Recchia’s second novel, Io che ti ho voluto così bene (I, who loved you so much), revisits events from All That is Left of Life from different perspectives, adding to the author’s growing acclaim.