Le assaggiatrici

by Rosella Postorino

Flatiron Books/Macmillan (U.S.)
and Simon & Schuster (Australia)

HarperCollins (U.K.)

“Extraordinary”

The Sunday Times

“Unputdownable … Expertly translated from the Italian”

—Trevor Royle, The Herald Scotland

“Engrossing … Postorino’s first novel to be translated into English from her native Italian. Her ability to beautifully convey feelings of guilt, shame, love and remorse in a single gesture is a sign that we will be hearing more from her”

The New York Times Book Review

“Vividly written, tense historical fiction that’s well on the way to becoming a global bestseller”

Spectrum

“A phenomenal, eye-opening and heartbreaking read”

Yahoo Best Books of November 2019

“A disturbing, powerful and beautifully written novel”

—Christy Lefteri, author of
The Beekeeper of Aleppo

“Written with intelligence and nuance”

The Times 

They called it the Wolfsschanze, the Wolf’s Lair. “Wolf” was his nickname. As hapless as Little Red Riding Hood, I had ended up in his belly. A legion of hunters was out looking for him, and to get him in their grips they would gladly slay me as well.

Inspired by the powerful true story of Margot Wölk, this is a heartbreaking and gripping historical novel for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

East Prussia, 1943. Hitler hides away in the Wolfsschanze, his hidden headquarters. The tide is turning in the war and his enemies circle ever closer. Ten women are chosen. Ten women to taste his food and protect him from poison.

Read Chapter One of At the Wolf’s Table.

Listen to an excerpt read by Polly Stone (U.S. audiobook) or Kristin Atherton (U.K. audiobook).

Originally published in Italy in 2018 by Feltrinelli, Rosella Postorino’s novel Le assaggiatrici has received multiple Italian literary awards, including the prestigious Premio Campiello, and was hailed by La Repubblica as one of the 10 best Italian novels of the decade.

With the working English title Hitler’s Feast the novel was selected as one of the twelve finalists at Books at Berlinale 2018, a joint initiative by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Berlinale Co-Production Market celebrating notable new literary works that lend themselves to screen adaptation. The novel has been adapted into a film by award-winning director Silvio Soldini.

For this translation, Leah was shortlisted for the Italian Prose in Translation Award 2020 by the American Literary Translators Association.

In October 2023, she was interviewed by the podcast Harshaneeyam about this novel and her other literary translations. You can listen to the half-hour interview here. That same month, she and Rosella spoke about the book and its translation at the University of Bologna’s Con Altre Parole translation festival in Forli.

To date, Le assaggiatrici has been translated into over 30 languages and has sold half a million copies worldwide.

Rosella Postorino is represented by the Vicki Satlow Literary Agency.

Leah Janeczko is a highly talented, cultured, perceptive and meticulous translator. I’m pleased that Le assaggiatrici found her voice in English, and I was pleased with our conversations about my novel, which she understood so deeply that she showed me things not even I, its author, had yet seen.

Rosella Postorino

Author and winner of the 2018 Premio Campiello

Leah D. Janeczko well renders the intensity of the original text, capturing the drama of the women’s plight, their tensions, anxieties and despair, and has a fine ear for dialogue that flows smoothly and compellingly.

Italian Prose in Translation Award Judges

Shortlisting for the 2020 IPTA

Leah is a brilliant translator: precise and dependable and utterly respectful of the authors’ voice.

Vicki Satlow

President, Vicki Satlow Literary Agency

Leah Janeczko uses her creativity, passion
and expert knowledge of Italian and English
to help others express their authentic voice
in a language not their own.