Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Story of Honour, Religion and the Perfect Cassata
(2007), which is full of village politics
and eccentric personalities; and Marlena de Blasi's
That Summer in Sicily
(2008), a Mills
& Boon-ish story about a Sicilian woman's relationship with a much-older member of the
Sicilian aristocracy.
Mary Taylor Simeti's
On Persephone's Island
and Peter Robb's
Midnight in Sicily
are
much more substantial. Simeti, an American who has been living on the island since 1962,
offers fascinating insights into its history, culture and cuisine; and Robb's portrait of the
Mezzogiorno is notable for its impeccable research and compelling narrative, especially
the sections dealing with the Mafia.
Historical novels of note include Barry Unsworth's
The Ruby in Her Navel
(2006) and
Tariq Ali's
A Sultan in Palermo
(2005). Both are set against the backdrop of the Norman
court of Roger II (known to his Arabic subjects as Sultan Rujeri).
And finally, mention should be made of three eminently readable histories:
The Day of
Battle: the War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944
(2008), by Rick Atkinson;
The Normans in
Sicily
(2004), by John Julius Norwich; and
The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediter-
ranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century
(1992), by Steven Runciman.
