La madre

Anche quella notte, dunque, Paulo si disponeva ad uscire.
La madre, nella sua camera attigua a quella di lui, lo sentiva muoversi furtivo, aspettando forse, per uscire, ch'ella spegnesse il lume e si coricasse.
Ella spense il lume ma non si coricò. Seduta presso l'uscio si stringeva una con l'altra le sue dure mani di serva, ancora umide della risciacquatura delle stoviglie, calcando i pollici uno sull'altro per farsi forza; ma di momento in momento la sua inquietudine cresceva, vinceva la sua ostinazione a sperare che il figlio s'acquetasse, che, come un tempo, si mettesse a leggere o andasse a dormire. Per qualche minuto, infatti, i passi furtivi del giovane prete cessarono: si sentiv...

Deledda was born in Nuoro, Sardinia, into a middle-class family, to Giovanni Antonio Deledda and Francesca Cambosu, as the fourth of seven siblings. She attended elementary school (the minimum required at the time) and was then educated by a private tutor (a guest of one of her relatives) and moved on to study literature on her own. It was during this time that she started displaying an interest in writing short novels, mostly inspired by the life of Sardinian peasants and their struggles. Her teacher encouraged her to submit her writing to a newspaper and, at age 13, her first story was published in a local journal. Some of Deledda's early works were published in the fashion magazine L'ultima moda between 1888 and 1889. In 1890 Trevisani published Nell'azzurro (Into the Blue), her first collection of short stories. Deledda's main focus was the representation of poverty and the struggles associated with it through a combination of imaginary and autobiographical elements. Her family wasn't particularly supportive of her desire to write.