Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily

Two rich, witty novella-length fables feature women struggling to develop their artistic and intellectual voices against the colorfully rendered backdrop of traditional Sicilian households. The first novella, ""A Knot of Tears (Un Gruppu di Chiantu),"" is set in Palermo around the turn of the century and features Costanza, a baroness who has hidden herself away at a friend's house and turned into a virtual hermit. Her life begins to change when a parrot flies through her window and its owner, a charming, storytelling young sailor (a male Scheherezade) comes looking for the bird. Timpanelli's considerable skill as a professional storyteller shines as she effortlessly guides the reader through her nested-box narrative--each level illuminating the others in a delicate and tangled pattern that gives the story a quiet elegance. The second novella, ""Rusina, Not Quite in Love,"" retells the Beauty and the Beast tale, once again in a not too distant past. Poor Rusina, a landscape painter, marries rich, ugly but sensitive Sebastian to pay off her father's debts; then she finds in Sebastian both the inspiration she needs for her art and a version of love that she had not known. Despite their brevity, these tales bewitch the reader with their intelligence and warmth. Author tour. (Aug.)