Sometimes the soul
Subtitle: two novellas of Sicily
By: Gioia Timpanelli.
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 183
Subjects: Sicily (Italy) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
Description: In "A Knot of Tears," a woman's locked-up life is transformed by a parrot who tells tales; her story becomes a subtle and surprising meditation on the necessity of being true to oneself and others. In "Rusina, Not Quite in Love," a strange and lovely retelling of the story of the Beauty and the Beast, a young woman escapes family and society to find consolation and beauty in nature and its muse.

In each case, women of very different backgrounds - one aristocratic, one impoverished - find solitary spaces from which they can emerge as artists and shapers of their own destinies.
Table of contents: title: A knot of tears; title: Rusina, not quite in love.