TOlba is the daughter of an alcoholic prostitute and an unknown father. She grows up in a pile of shacks, abandoned to herself, and ends up in an orphanage. In thirty-seven years he manages to live eight lives, one more than cats. The reader of Count the steps homeby Laura Ceccacci, meets her as a wildlife operator in a zoo, which becomes a place to rest after a breakneck escape. No one knows who she really is except Gautama, who has known her for many years and protects her like a guardian angel. Alba left a husband and a little daughter, in her past there is a Black Hole, as she calls itan unspeakable disaster, so painful that his brain decided to dissociate from it. But little by little, memories come back in bits and pieces. In the fairy-tale atmosphere that Ceccacci expertly creates, a very dark story emerges, revealed only at the end with two twists that call into question every certainty.
She is a literary agent, this is her first novel. What was it like to be on the other side, that of the writers?
I have always worked with creativity and this book was born almost for fun. I often go to the Bioparco with my son, it is a place of peace in the chaos of Rome. And at my desk, one day, the image of a very upset woman appeared to me, walking among the animals. This story started from there.
Alba abandons her husband and little daughter. Was it difficult to describe a protagonist who makes a choice that is so poorly accepted socially?
Yes, also because I have a three year old. I tried to detach myself and let the character’s humanity speak for itself. In everyone’s eyes she carries out a terrible action but what brought me closer to her, and what the reader will discover only later, is that she leaves to heal and not to do harm. His is an act of love.
Laura Ceccacci worked for major publishers in Italy and Spain, before founding her own literary agency in Rome. This is his first novel. © 2026 Giliola Chistè
In the novel, motherhood is outlined in its imperfection. Was it important for you to show even the most uncomfortable and ambivalent aspects?
I’m a new mother and I often feel the pressure to be blameless and perfect. Instead, motherhood is also made up of pain and loneliness. Only by accepting imperfection can you return to yourself and love yourself. And in this story I wanted to investigate different forms of motherhood.
Even motherhood denied?
Yes, it is a reflection of my personal history. For a long time I thought I wouldn’t be able to have children.
Gautama is a good person, but he keeps an unimaginable secret. He’s a difficult protagonist to love…
There can be no light without shadow. In this novel I put all my fears as a mother and he represents one of them too. A unique character came out of it and I hope I have conveyed to the readers a little compassion for him.
Counting the steps towards home by Laura Ceccacci, Salani336 pages, €18
Is it really possible to leave the past behind or sooner or later are we forced to deal with it?
Alba succeeds only by going outside of herself and looking at herself from the outside. She tries very hard to integrate that dark past into the present, also with the love and patience of those close to her.
Animals are very important in the story. What role do they have?
Animals are in contact with parts of reality that we do not know. And with simplicity and silence they can teach men a lot. Theirs is the only perfect motherhood because it follows the laws of nature. And then they don’t judge. Thanks to an elephant, for example, Alba manages to understand that she can take the path of her salvation.
Is this story also a search for identity to understand who we really are, beyond the roles we play?
All the characters try to find their own and this search pushes them to grow and improve themselves with the tools that life can offer. Alba always manages to get back into the game, which is why she has eight lives.
In the novel there is a great contrast between the fairy-tale, almost magical tone and scenario and the dramatic story it tells. Is it wanted?
It came partly by writing, partly by searching for it. I wanted the story to feel like a sort of fairy tale, because in fairy tales there is always an inescapable harshness in which life and death are intertwined. But in the case of my novel, rebirth can be glimpsed at the end.