Delia

Delia, the narrator of Troubling Love, is a 45-year-old woman who lives in Rome and makes a living drawing comic strips. She was raised in Naples alongside her two sisters. Her father was abusive toward her mother Amalia, which filled the household with nervous energy and fear. Growing up, Delia was close with her mother and always wanted to hold her attention. She was friends with a boy Antonio, who is the son of their family friend Caserta. As a child, Delia suspected that her mother was having an affair with Caserta, which made her very jealous. She liked to pretend to be Amalia. Caserta’s father, who owned the sweet shop where Delia and Antonio liked to play, ended up molesting her in the cellar of the shop. Delia lied and told her father that Amalia was cheating on him with Caserta in the cellar, which resulted...