The Story of a Pretend Woman

Laura Cantoni was born in Milan into a landowning family, and her primary education involved reading a broad array of stories and fables, which would later influence her work as an author of children’s literature. After moving to Florence and marrying her cousin Angiolo Orvieto in 1899, she collaborated with her husband on Il Marzocco, the literary journal he had founded several years earlier, which served as a forum for Florence’s intellectual circle. In 1909, using the pseudonym Mrs. El, Orvieto began publishing children’s books, many of which were translated widely. Following World War I, Orvieto became involved with the Zionist movement in Italy, especially in her native Tuscany. Generations of Italian children have continued to appreciate her tales of Greco-Roman antiquity.