There's No Turning Back (Paperback)

Alba de Cespedes

ISBN 10: 1668083647 / ISBN 13: 9781668083642

Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2026

About this Item

Paperback. Discover the "boundary-breaking" (LitHub) debut novel by the beloved feminist author of the "brilliant" (The Wall Street Journal) Forbidden Notebook and the "courageous" (The Washington Post) Her Side of the Story that was so subversive, it was banned by the Italian Fascist regime when it was first published in 1938.A coming-of-age novel that is as relevant today as it was nearly ninety years ago, There's No Turning Back centers on eight women with radically different backgrounds who attend the same college in Rome. Some are there to study, others to escape a scandal, or keep a secret, and during their time there, they experience the challenges of love, work, and emancipation. Considered experimental and revolutionary at the time, this novel established Alba de Cespedes as "one of Italy's most cosmopolitan, incendiary, insightful, and overlooked writers" (Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winner). Translated by Ann Goldstein, There's No Turning Back demonstrates why de Cespedes deserves "an important place in the canon of women's literature" (Chicago Review of Books). Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781668083642

Bibliographic Details

• Title: There's No Turning Back (Paperback)
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, New York
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1668083647
• ISBN 13: 9781668083642
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Discover the “boundary-breaking” (LitHub) debut novel by the beloved feminist author of the “brilliant” (The Wall Street Journal) Forbidden Notebook and the “courageous” (The Washington Post) Her Side of the Story that was so subversive, it was banned by the Italian Fascist regime when it was first published in 1938.

A coming-of-age novel that is as relevant today as it was nearly ninety years ago, There’s No Turning Back centers on eight women with radically different backgrounds who attend the same college in Rome. Some are there to study, others to escape a scandal, or keep a secret, and during their time there, they experience the challenges of love, work, and emancipation.

Considered experimental and revolutionary at the time, this novel established Alba de Céspedes as “one of Italy’s most cosmopolitan, incendiary, insightful, and overlooked writers” (Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winner). Translated by Ann Goldstein, There’s No Turning Back demonstrates why de Céspedes deserves “an important place in the canon of women’s literature” (Chicago Review of Books).

About the Author

Alba de Céspedes (1911–1997) was a bestselling Italian Cuban feminist writer greatly influenced by the cultural developments that lead to and resulted from World War II. Along with being imprisoned for her anti-fascist work, several of her novels were banned in Italy. After the war, she moved to Paris, where she lived until her death in 1997.