Sisters: A Revealing Portrait of the World's Most Famous Diva

The reader of this memoir will feel like a therapist listening to a patient reclaim her personhood. The sister of Maria Callas and self-described ``saint'' repeatedly tells us that she has been much put upon: by her mother; her sister, who so disregarded her older and only sibling that there was no contact for a period of nine years; her lover, who would not marry her and died leaving his mistress of 28 years in virtual poverty; Vasso Devetzi, the diva's friend who, she charges, not only stole heavily from her sister's estate but hogged the limelight as the singer's legend posthumously grew. This tale of woe and self-sacrifice can be revealed now, presumably, because the villains have all passed on to their just deserts, and the author, too, has finally received her reward via much-wanted marriage. The reader is left not unsympathetic; this is not a cynical account, only tediously self-justifying. Photos. (Jan.)