The Girl at the Door: A Novel

by Veronica Raimo

Overview

An accusation of rape upsets a utopian island community in this “provocative, fiercely intelligent” Italian novel (Daily Mail, UK).

When “The Crash” brough entire nations to their knees, the island society of Miden—a place dedicated to fairness and equality—rose like a phoenix from the wreckage. While on vacation in this oasis, a seemingly aimless woman meets an attractive man, and moves to the island to start a new life with him. Now six months pregnant, the woman is just beginning to feel comfortable in her lover’s space. But all that changes when a girl arrives to accuse the man of rape.

Slight and pretty, the girl discloses a drawn out and violent affair she’s had with her professor, the father of the woman’s child. In alternating perspectives, the professor and his girlfriend reflect upon their own lives, each other, and their interloper. As their idyllic society grapples with the scandal, boundaries blur and alliances shift as reputation, truth, and self-preservation threaten to upend their relationship.

Provocative and unnerving, The Girl at the Door explores the bureaucracy of a scandal, and the thin line between lust and possession.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802147356
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/22/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

VERONICA RAIMO is the author of two novels published in Italy – Il dolore secondo Matteo and Tutte le feste di domani – and a collection of short stories published in Germany, Eines Tages alles dir. Veronica contributes regularly to Rolling Stone and wrote the script for Sleeping Beauty by Marco Bellocchio. She has translated from English to Italian writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Octavia Butler, Iain Sinclair, Vikram Seth, and others. She lives in Rome.

Read an Excerpt

I was in my sixth month when the girl came knocking.
I’d gotten used to visits at home, almost as if I were sick. In a certain sense I was, a languid infirmity that had me spending the days doing nothing. The doctors prescribed a lot of rest. The challenge was to find new ways of resting.
It was always the others who were coming to me. I’d learned how to re-ceive them. People passed by to ask me how I was, give me advice and bring me books on motherhood with covers so ugly I didn’t know where to hide them. If they didn’t bring me books, then they came with something to eat. At times it was something potentially toxic, so along with their kindness came a heartfelt self-reproach: “How stupid of me! Tiramsu… raw eggs! How could I not have thought about it!”
The girl came empty handed. On the threshold, her hair down, her jeans tight, just the way I used to wear before the visitors came to replenish my stock of maternity pants. I was constantly hiding stuff those days.
“Are you the professor’s wife?” the girl asked me.
“Girlfriend, um… partner,” I specified, even though it embarrassed me to use that term. It felt like I was putting on airs.
“I have to speak to you,” she said.

Editorial Reviews

10/11/2019

In her English-language debut, Italian author Raimo creates an uncomfortable situation for her readers to consider—the report of an act of sexual violence within a utopian society where the principles of morality are unyielding. The island of Miden is a beautiful, peaceful place, thanks to its natural beauty and to the Commission, which makes sure the area's inhabitants live in accordance with the Miden Dream. When a professor of philosophy is accused of rape, testimonies are collected for his trial. The verdict of the trial will determine whether the professor will be allowed to stay on the island. The story is told in alternating voices of Him (the professor) and Her (his girlfriend, who is pregnant with their first child). The accuser is a student with whom he had an affair two years ago, before the girlfriend came to live at Miden. Following the affair, the student came to believe that she was victimized by the older man, and she presses charges. VERDICT In a story reminiscent of The Scarlet Letter but with a more salacious vocabulary, emotional polarities abound while the accused expresses no remorse, only self-interest. Provocative reading for the brave. [See Prepub Alert, 2/4/19.]—Susanne Wells, Indianapolis P.L.

Library Journal

Praise for The Girl at the Door

“This uncompromising, fiercely intelligent novel confirms the moral usefulness of serious art: it reminds us that the world is more complicated than our righteous certainties; it forces us to acknowledge the abyss.”—Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You

“Fierce, intelligent, candid, and erotic, Veronica Raimo has written a devastating modern fable of passion, where acts of betrayal, violence, and sex both sustain and destroy the characters’ lives in unexpected and provocative ways.”—Lily Tuck, author of Sisters

“An astonishing novel that examines moral anguish from original and captivating angles, full of quotable lines and startling insights into conscience and the urge to judge. The novel explores the limits of intimacy, physical and emotional, and is as gripping as anything I’ve read this year. Sexy, dangerous, modern – what’s not to love?”—Richard Beard, author of The Day That Went Missing

“Perfection is not such a beautiful place when you look at it too closely, and Veronica Raimo here enlightens its depths with elegant, mesmerizing and merciless writing.”—La Repubblica

“[The Girl at the Door] talks about harassment, consensus, populism and vigilantism, but also about what we feel when our actions are analyzed from outside and we become characters in someone else's narrative.”—Forbes Italia

“Raimo’s novel will enrich the debate on the most current contemporary issues and at the same time belongs to the international literary scene that today can talk about emotions, individuals and sex in the most interesting and stylistically innovative way: from Catherine Lacey to Sally Rooney.”—Vice Italy

"[The Girl at the Door] is catching and convincing. Veronica Raimo is probably the most emblematic interpreter of fiction exploring the reality of sexual harassment."—L'Espresso

"A surprising novel, as surprising is the setting where it takes place... A novel with an international appeal, we would just love to read more books like this."—Rolling Stone Italy

“In this mysterious and seductive novel, Raimo bravely gives no answers… [The Girl at the Door] is a novel about doubt: its fascination and its fear.”—La Stampa

“A world which reminds one of Disgrace by Coetzee, but here it’s a woman and her anguish at the core of everything. All our certainties collapse, and so collapses the idea we have of ourselves.”—Corriere della sera

From the Publisher