Behind Closed Doors: Her Father's House and Other Stories of Sicily »

Maria Messina (1887-1944) was born in Palermo, Sicily. Messina taught herself to read and write, and eventually began a correspondence with Italian realist Giovanni Verga. She wrote novels, short stories, and children's tales, and later won the Medal of Gold for her story "America". During the 1920s, Messina was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which she died of. Elise Magistro holds a Doctorate in Italian from U.C.L.A. She has written and lectured on Italian women writers, the Sicilian literary tradition and the Italian American emigrant experience between 1880 and 1920. Her publications include critical essays on Sicilian writer Maria Messina and Sardinian Nobel Prize author, Grazia Deledda. Professor Magistro currently teaches at Scripps College. Gardaphé is now at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute of Queens College. He is Associate Editor of Fra Noi, editor of the Series in Italian American Studies at SUNY Press, and co-founding co-editor of Voices in Italian Americana. He is current President of MELUS and author of Italian Signs, American Streets: The Evolution of Italian Narrative. Elise Magistro holds a Doctorate in Italian from U.C.L.A. She has written and lectured on Italian women writers, the Sicilian literary tradition and the Italian American emigrant experience between 1880 and 1920. Her publications include critical essays on Sicilian writer Maria Messina and Sardinian Nobel Prize author, Grazia Deledda. Professor Magistro currently teaches at Scripps College.

Stories of Sicily, immigration, and the lives of Sicilian women in the early 20th century.

Publishers Weekly

More than 60 years after her death, Sicilian realist Messina (1887-1944) gets her first English translation, 10 stories published between 1909 and 1928 that focus on the downtrodden, poor and middle-class women of her native island. Two stories, "America 1911" and "America 1918," explore immigration and emigration from expectant departure to unsettling return, while "Grandmother Lidda" takes the intimate perspective of an elderly mother left behind. In "Her Father's House," Vanna returns seeking refuge from her woeful marriage to a Rome lawyer, only to find she has lost her place in her family. Meanwhile, the deaf mute protagonist of "Ciancianedda" struggles to communicate with her new husband. Messina's raw and psychologically deft tales render these women's lives with pathos and dignity, and Magistro's lucid translation is at once lyrical and immediate. Absorbing and culturally rich, these stories should help secure Messina's place in Italian letters. (Oct.)

Grace (Grazia) 23

America 1911 (La Merica) 32

Dainty shoes (Le scarpette) 48

Grandmother Lidda (Nonna Lidda) 58

America 1918 (La Merica) 67

I take you out (Ti-nesciu) 78

Her father's house (Casa paterna) 84

Ciancianedda 106

Red roses (Rose rosse) 126

Caterina's loom (Il telaio di Caterina) 135