A Small-Town Marriage

Marchesa Colombi, Colombi. Northwestern University Press, $15.95 (98pp) ISBN 978-0-8101-1841-6

An Italian notary's teenaged daughter is desperate to wed in the Marchesa Colombi's (1840-1920) A Small-Town Marriage, trans. by Paula Paige. Denza Dellara becomes smitten with a wealthy, obese young man; though the years slip by without a proposal, she still clings to the hope that one is forthcoming. Almost everyone around her seems to be able to find a mate her father, her sister, her cousins but Denza appears destined for old maidhood, just like her rheumatic aunt. It's hard not to root for the naive heroine in this peculiar comedy of manners.

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