Contessa

``Politics is about social classes, not personalities,'' says the communist brother of Rosaria Lombardi, the female protagonist of this perfervid historical romance set in early 20th-century Italy. But she (and the author) would seem to argue otherwise. Rosaria, a peasant woman of Cederna, and Achille Leone, a member of the town's ruling family, have been drawn to each other since childhood. But through the approximately 11 years represented here--a time spanning Italy's involvements in North Africa, its role in WW I and the rise of Mussolini--the two encounter numerous obstacles to their relationship. Rosaria promises herself to Achille, but after he is erroneously pronounced dead in battle in Libya, she becomes the mistress of Achille's father; Achille's venomous sister Giorgina spreads lies about the father of Rosaria's son; when Achille, now returned to Italy, hears a false report about Rosaria's role in a socialist uprising, he marries her best friend Cristina. Collin ( Imbroglio ) might have explored some interesting issues here, but his heavy-handed theme--that Rosaria and Achille are somehow fated to be together against all odds--is neither believable nor all that desirable. Achille's longing for Rosaria seems exclusively physical, and their seemingly endless misunderstandings are manipulated with operatic excess and in prose that is often oddly detached: when Achille finally proposes to Rosaria, in the midst of the Fascist takeover of Italy, her first thought is, ``I can't be married today. I don't have a thing to wear.'' While Harvard- and Oxford-educated scholar Collin has used accurate historical detail, his lack of insight into human relations or emotional truths makes this a disappointing effort. (Apr.)