Press

“The Long Silence: Francesco Mastriani in English Translation”

A survey essay by Idara Crespi on Francesco Mastriani and the long absence of his work from English translation, published in newitalianbooks, the Treccani portal for Italian literature abroad, June 2026. Also available in the site’s Italian and French editions.

— newitalianbooks (Treccani), June 10, 2026

“Introducing Espresso Publishing House and The Blind Woman of Sorrento”

Idara Crespi on the founding of Espresso Publishing House, the work of translating Mastriani, and an excerpt from her introduction to The Blind Woman of Sorrento, published in Reading in Translation, May 2026.

— Reading in Translation, May 11, 2026

“The Great Lost Gothic Novel of Italian Romanticism”

An essay by Idara Crespi on Francesco Mastriani and The Blind Woman of Sorrento, published in CrimeReads, April 2026.

— CrimeReads, April 28, 2026

“I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and was entertained by it from beginning to end.”

— She Reads Novels, April 2026

“As an early and formative work of a genre that is still with us, it deserves an up-to-date translation. Aubert’s insistence on accuracy is today and in this context entirely appropriate.”

— Asian Review of Books, July 2026

“A wonderful new English translation of Pierre Loti’s classic novel Madame Chrysanthème by Clémence Aubert… I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

— Salvador Lopez Rivera, French Literature For All, July 2026

“The translator of this brand new English edition did a nice fluid work, it really felt like reading a diary.”

— Emma Cazabonne, Words and Peace, July 22, 2026

“Espresso Publishing House Releases New Translation of ‘Madame Chrysanthème,’ Inspiration for Puccini’s ‘Madama Butterfly’”

A feature on the new translation and on the line that runs from Loti’s 1887 novel through John Luther Long and David Belasco to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, with publisher Idara Crespi on how much the opera softened and how much it simply invented. Published in OperaWire, July 2026.

— David Salazar, OperaWire, July 25, 2026

“I’d recommend this short novella as a quick, light-hearted story that also has plenty of depth for those who want to look for it.”

— Andrew Blackman, July 2026