A couple of years ago — Was it when I quit my previous job because the environment was no longer exciting for me or was it when we all were thrown into the social vacuum during the covid pandemic? — I just sat down and wrote Alice’s Life in one breath.

About Alice’s Life: It is pure literary fiction; it even has a little bit of mystery. It’s not a self-help book. But I wrote about things that were close to me and are close to many young women who grew up and became older one day. Age is a relative term, isn’t it? Twenty years apart often doesn’t make a big difference. Age does not depend on health or appearance; it is something else entirely. So, I wrote about growing up, and about the experiences everyone lives through to understand, one way or another, along, the way. One of the main themes of the novel is the realisation that the plans we make always turn out differently than we expect, for better or worse. It’s a gift we gradually learn to uncover - to cherish our lives every day as they unfold. We also have to accept the hard truth that we may never turn into the person we had planned to become. The important thing is to stay sane when this revelation comes to mind one day.

I think that our life can be likened to swimming in the sea with our contemporaries by our side. Rarely, though it does happen, we are lucky enough to float for a while in quiet, warm, shallow waters. More often, we find ourselves in the open sea, sometimes surrounded by small waves and every now and then by gigantic ones. If you are on the rise today and others are down, it will inevitably change — and vice versa.

So, it took me a while to understand: Live your own life as it is. Don’t waste time trying to live the lives of others or comparing yourself to them, or to your imaginary ‘perfect’ life that never materialised. Life “as is” will always take you somewhere unexpected, and this will happen at an ever-accelerated pace as the years go by. Along the way, you’ll discover magic in ordinary days. It will be sometimes uneasy and sometimes exciting to navigate. But in the end, we are the only true leaders of our own lives.  

And so, to weave it all together, as far as my own life goes, rather unexpectedly, I’ve made almost a full turn around the Earth, living in Europe, the USA, and Southeast Asia before coming to London, which I currently call home. The days of loud late-night parties are gone. I live a rather quiet life, except for work that can sometimes be 24/7, spending precious time with my still small child, commuting a few hours a day, and, like most of us, having not much time for myself.

If someone were to ask me, “What are your achievements? What have you done in your life?” I wouldn’t think about the various schools and universities I’ve attended, the languages I learnt along the way, or the jobs that I’ve had. I’d mention two things. The first, and most important one: My small daughter is growing up to be a good person, and she is resilient and happy. And the other one, I’ll say: I wrote this book. It will help many others who come to realise, at 30 or 40 years old, or even later, that life is not what we imagined it to be—and that it is still very good, even though it is very different. This book will help many people know they are not alone.

22.01.2025

Maria Radrizzani