There is a moment in everyone’s life when setbacks become so heavy that they seem definitive. But there are also moments when those same setbacks are transformed into new roots, into a center of gravity that one never thought possible to find again.
“L’Anna che verrà” (The Anna to Come) was born from this: from pain that becomes words, from fragility that becomes strength, from loneliness that gives way to a different, freer breath.
For Annalisa Menin, writing is healing, a mirror and a refuge, but also a bridge to others. In these intimate and luminous pages, she has gathered her most difficult experiences and turned them into a testimony of hope. Not a surrender, but an act of courage: telling her story to remind us that, even when it seems impossible, it is always possible to start again.
In this interview, she takes us on her journey: the wounds, the places, the encounters, the discoveries that marked the rebirth of a woman ready to look ahead with serenity and wonder.
Anna Venier, the author’s literary alter ego, a complex, powerful, and fragile woman, after years in New York, which she loves very much, decides to return to Italy, to the province of Veneto from which she had left to search for herself elsewhere. Or to find herself again?
Welcome, Annalisa. From New York to Italy. Let’s start with the title: “L’Anna che verrà” (The Anna to Come).
Who is this new Anna?
She is a woman who has finally found her center of gravity. She is a woman who has fallen several times but has always gotten back up, even stronger than before.
What was the spark that prompted you to write the book?
I experienced emotional dependence while writing my third book. The impact on my personal and professional life was so strong that the original concept of the novel was completely overturned. I felt the need to recount and share my experience, hoping that it might be useful to someone else. For me, writing is therapy.
Was writing a way for you to process the pain or to leave a trace of hope?
Both. Writing helps me get things out. It’s as if I see everything from a different, much more rational perspective, and so the writing process allows me to process the pain. At the same time, this leaves a sense of beauty in the end, of possibility. It is always possible to reinvent yourself.
Is there a page or passage that you feel is most “yours,” as if it were a secret that has finally found a voice?
The chapters dedicated to my mother and father, Anna Venier‘s dialogue with both of them, are a fundamental passage for me. I’ve grown up, and this book confirms that.
What reactions are you getting from readers?
Very positive ones. The part I love most about being a writer is the dialogue with the public, getting in touch with the stories of so many people, helping if I can, even if only by listening.
After New York, what does the word ‘home’ mean to you today?
Home for me is the world. I have always managed to recreate a little corner of my own in every place I have lived: in Chile, Germany, the United States, London, and now Italy, and I want to continue to feel at home wherever I go. That said, to quote Naguib Mahfouz, as I did in the book: “Your home is not where you were born. Home is where all your attempts to escape cease.” So, the place where I live today, which is also where I was born and raised—the Veneto countryside—is my home today, where my heart is at peace and where my attempts to escape have ceased. I am finally at peace with myself.
Starting over also means reinventing yourself: what did you discover about yourself that you didn’t know before?
That I know how to look beyond, that I know how to forgive, and forgive myself. And that perhaps that is the key to serenity.
Are there any places or encounters that helped you find yourself?
The countryside in general has always been a place of peace and serenity for me. While I was living in New York, my goal was to buy a house in the countryside in Upstate, near Hudson… I came very close, but a house was waiting for me in Italy, evidently. As for encounters: my friends have been fundamental. They have been close to me, listened to me, and supported me, in a way that was never intrusive.
Was there a gesture of care or a word that surprised you, that made you feel less alone?
Last year, in August, was the darkest moment for me (after Marco’s death). A dear friend of mine, who was traveling for work, stayed on the phone with me for a couple of hours, until I felt better. I was in the middle of a panic attack, and she was there for me even from afar, with great calm and affection.
Was there a moment, even a small, everyday moment, when you realized you were coming back to life?
When I found myself singing at the top of my lungs in the car, with the windows all down and the fresh air coming in, in front of me a crazy sunset. I was on a small country road in the province of Padua and I was moved, partly because of the song I was listening to. It was a cathartic moment. I felt like I was in the right place and very loved. I said to myself: “It was hard, but you did it. Now keep going.”
Who was the first person you thought of when you wrote the last pages of the book?
Marco. He would have been very happy to see me finally at peace.
If you had to sum up the book in one sentence, what would it be?
Sometimes you have to leave to learn how to stay.
What do you want the reader to take away when they close the last page?
A sense of beauty. I hope that those who read the book will say, “Ah, what a beautiful story.”
And for yourself, today, what is your strongest desire?
To continue learning every day and to let myself be amazed by life, thus avoiding slowly fading away. I want to continue to nurture my flame.
Can you tell us if you already have a new project in mind, literary or personal?
I have just started writing my fourth book, but it will have nothing to do with Anna Venier. In the meantime, I am continuing with my project Remembering Marco, which has become a Mentorship Program for young entrepreneurs and… I’m getting married next year. Who would have thought it, even just a few months ago? The beauty of life, which always knows how to surprise us!
If someone who feels lost were listening to you now, what words would you give them?
To ask for help. To share their experience, not to keep everything inside. Not to feel alone, that life is full of ups and downs.
Every word Annalisa writes seems to contain a silent invitation: never stop believing in the possibility of rebirth. L’Anna che verrà is not just a book, but a reminder of light for those who are going through darkness, a helping hand that reminds us how life can surprise us just when we think we have lost our way.
And perhaps the most authentic message she leaves her readers with is this: beauty does not lie in the absence of wounds, but in the strength with which we learn to carry them with us, transforming them into new life.
“L’Anna che verrà” – Giunti Editore is the final novel in Annalisa Menin‘s trilogy, following “Il mio ultimo anno a New York” and “Il traghettatore.” An emotional journey through loss, rebirth, and freedom. A story of courage and self-discovery. A new beginning, perhaps from where we never left….
