Elena Ferrante, "La Figlia Oscura"
from the beginning of Chapter 2, quickly translated:
'When my daughters moved to Toronto, where their father had been living and working for years, I discovered with embarrassment and delight that I didn't feel sad at all, in fact I felt as light as if I had finally brought them into the world. For the first time in about twenty-five years I no longer felt the anxiety of having to look after them. The house stayed as clean as if no one lived in it, I was no longer plagued by expenses or laundry, the woman who helped me with the cleaning found better paid work and I felt no need to replace her."
[Translation problems:
"messe al mondo" = "mettre au monde" in French = put [brought] them in the world, deliver.
imbarazzo = embarras = not really embarrassment, but a mixture of shame, botheration and embarrrassment.]
I've run out of Italian novels for the moment, so I'm rereading this one, which I have on the shelf.
I'm finding I can't quite face up to the next installment of Knausgaard. I brought it home from the library, I read a little, it sat around for a while, I took it back.