Originally published in 1963, and today considered a landmark in twentieth century Italian literature, Luigi Meneghello's Deliver Us is the memoir, not of an extraordinary childhood, but of the very ordinary one the author shared with most of his generation, when Italy was a rural country under the twin authorities of Church and Fascism.

LUIGI MENEGHELLO (1922-2007) was among Italy's most acclaimed twentieth century writers. After taking part in the resistance during the war, he accepted a one-year scholarship to the University of Reading in 1947. This led to a teaching appointment in the English department, and in 1961 Meneghello founded a highly influential Italian Studies department, which he led until his retirement from teaching in 1980. Deliver Us (Libera nos a malo 1963) was his first book. Among his other significant books are I piccoli maestri (1964), about the Italian resistance; Pomo pero (1974), Fiori italiani (1976) and Jura (1987), on the nature of speech, writing, and literary form.

FREDERIKA RANDALL's translations include Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age (2010) and The Body of Il Duce (Metropolitan Books, 2005) by Sergio Luzzatto; and Sicilian Tragedee by Ottavio Cappellani (2008). A journalist in Rome, she has written for The New York Times, The Nation, and many other publications.