One woman’s journey from Sicily to America
Historical Fiction
Publisher: HenschelHAUS Publishing
Join Angela Lanza as she the experiences the tumultuous world of early 20th century Sicily and New York. Orphaned by the earthquake and powerful eruption of Mt. Etna in 1908, Angela is raised in the strict confines of an Italian convent. Through various twists of fate, she is married to a young Italian man whom she barely knows , then together with her spouse, immigrates to the U.S.
Excerpt:
A cross from Italy’s mainland sat the city of Messina like
an indomitable fortress. Proud of its solid
presence, Messina was the travelers’ first encounter with
the island of Sicily. The earthy colors of the
buildings and
landscape signaled to the visitor or returning Sicilian that Messina and its
people
belonged to the island, not to any outside political force
or cultural tradition. The clang of the donkey-
drawn carts and the voices calling out to customers to buy
wares in the market added to the music of
the city’s sounds. Visitors marveled out loud at the
cathedrals and ancient art work throughout the city,
but the locals walked and spoke softly, especially near the
narrow slits between the buildings. Visitors
delighted in the snake-like movement of the streets. The
streets seemed to lead directly to a famous
church or street market but then would slowly veer off in a
different direction. They seemed to be
designed to intentionally confuse. The city offered no help
in arriving at a specific destination. Ancient
buildings were so close together that air barely squeezed
through. Residents believed that between the
buildings old mysteries sat, holding the true essence of
Messina. Whenever one of the townspeople
walked close to the openings, there seemed to be a whisper,
not a sound you could hear with your
physical ears but heard in your mind. The whisper seemed to
convey a yearning that had been
imprisoned for hundreds of years. When this happened, people
scurried past, heads down, attempting
to get away from the whispers in their heads.
Angela ran down the hot cobblestone street and fell,
scrambled to her feet and ran, then fell again. She
threw herself on the street and screamed a long scream that
echoed off the ruins of the ancient
churches. A timeless scream that would always and forever be
heard. Her city, Messina, was a massive
graveyard. She searched for her family—her mother, sister
and brother. She yelled their names into the
air, into demolished houses. She screamed at bodies crushed
or run through by fallen beams. Other
bodies were caught between the open earth and the street.
They were the souls in hell that she had
seen in paintings, forever in agony, never at peace.
About the Author
Carmela Cattuti started her writing career as a writer for the Somerville News in Boston, MA. She is a writer, painter, and yoga instructor in Boston. After she finished her graduate work in English at Boston College, she began to write creatively. As fate would have it, she felt compelled to write her great aunt’s story. Between the Cracks and The Ascent have gone through several incarnations and will become a trilogy.
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