Displaying the author's acclaimed ability to recast ancient myth and folklore, two companion novellas follow two women, one of wealth and one of poverty, as they struggle to surmount isolation and social hierarchy and win their freedom. View More...
Winner of an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation "No one in the world . . . can tell a story better than Gioia Timpanelli."--Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes "Gioia Timpanelli's novellas . . . offer simple lessons about the nature of beauty and the beauty of nature . . . in rich, incantatory language." --"The New York Times Book Review" A renowned storyteller who has beguiled audiences around the world offers these mesmerizing novella-length fables about two young women and the transformative power of art. In "A Knot of Tears," a baroness locks herself up in the Gree... View More...
In a timeless moment in rural Sicily, a boy experiences the brutal killing of his best friend and is kidnapped by the murderers. No child should have to know evil so intimately, and yet once he does, what will save him?His salvation lies in the cycles of the seasons, the sturdy earth and its gifts of lentils and wild asparagus in a time of starvation, the animal sense that enables one to anticipate the whims and impulses of others, and, most important, familiarity with the Ancient Grandmother, who knows the entire play of good and evil. If he can trust her--the gang's cook, a fierce woman of g... View More...
In a timeless moment in rural Sicily, a boy experiences the brutal killing of his best friend and is kidnapped by the murderers. No child should have to know evil so intimately, and yet once he does, what will save him?His salvation lies in the cycles of the seasons, the sturdy earth and its gifts of lentils and wild asparagus in a time of starvation, the animal sense that enables one to anticipate the whims and impulses of others, and, most important, familiarity with the Ancient Grandmother, who knows the entire play of good and evil. If he can trust her--the gang's cook, a fierce woman of g... View More...
