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Young adult literature – or teenage literature, as it is also called – usually refers to a certain kind of literature that doesn’t treat its readers as young children, but speaks frankly about life and growing up.
At the same time, young adult literature understands and acknowledges that teenagers are still not adults and there-fore is cautious and responsible in its tackling of difficult subject matter.
One of its most recent additions to Maltese literature is Kważi Kważi lil Tamara Nżommuha, a novel originally written in Italian by Georgia Manzi and adapted into Maltese by award-winning author Simon Bartolo.
Published by Merlin Publishers, the novel tells the story of Lilli, an Italian teenager who, together with her parents has to move from Italy to Athens, Greece, when her father gets a job there.
Set in the midst of the economic meltdown in Greece a few years back, Lilli tries to settle into her new life and befriends a guy, whom she eventually falls for.
Suddenly, her family is faced with very serious problems, problems that put into question everything she’s ever believed. Lilli has no other option but to plan her escape from home.
But at home there is also Tamara – their Romanian maid and housekeeper – a woman with a heart of gold who isn’t treated too well by the family.
The translator, Bartolo, is an author of children’s and young adult literature. He wrote the young adult novel Deformity.
Kważi Kważi lil Tamara Nżommuha is available from bookshops or online.