Author: Penny Feeny
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1788547314
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 376
Book Description
'A delightful holiday read' Daily Mail. Sun-drenched, touching and inspirational, this is your ultimate summer read for 2018, perfect for fans of Rosanna Ley and Victoria Hislop. Sicily, 1977. Ten-year-old Lily and family arrive for their annual summer holiday in Sicily. Adopted as a toddler, Lily's childhood has been idyllic. But a chance encounter with a local woman on the beach changes everything... 10 years later... Ever since that fateful summer Lily's picture-perfect life, and that of her family, has been in turmoil. The secrets of the baking hot shores of Sicily are calling her back, and Lily knows that the answers she has been so desperately seeking can only be found if she returns to her beloved island once more...
Secrets in Sicily
Author: Penny Feeny
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1788547314
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 376
Book Description
'A delightful holiday read' Daily Mail. Sun-drenched, touching and inspirational, this is your ultimate summer read for 2018, perfect for fans of Rosanna Ley and Victoria Hislop. Sicily, 1977. Ten-year-old Lily and family arrive for their annual summer holiday in Sicily. Adopted as a toddler, Lily's childhood has been idyllic. But a chance encounter with a local woman on the beach changes everything... 10 years later... Ever since that fateful summer Lily's picture-perfect life, and that of her family, has been in turmoil. The secrets of the baking hot shores of Sicily are calling her back, and Lily knows that the answers she has been so desperately seeking can only be found if she returns to her beloved island once more...
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1788547314
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 376
Book Description
'A delightful holiday read' Daily Mail. Sun-drenched, touching and inspirational, this is your ultimate summer read for 2018, perfect for fans of Rosanna Ley and Victoria Hislop. Sicily, 1977. Ten-year-old Lily and family arrive for their annual summer holiday in Sicily. Adopted as a toddler, Lily's childhood has been idyllic. But a chance encounter with a local woman on the beach changes everything... 10 years later... Ever since that fateful summer Lily's picture-perfect life, and that of her family, has been in turmoil. The secrets of the baking hot shores of Sicily are calling her back, and Lily knows that the answers she has been so desperately seeking can only be found if she returns to her beloved island once more...
Sicilian Splendors
Author: John Keahey
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
ISBN: 125010470X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Book Description
"A wondrously joyous account of travel as it should be." –Publishers Weekly A travel narrative that focuses on Sicily's little-known regions, from the author of Seeking Sicily and Hidden Tuscany. From Palermo to Castiglione di Sicilia to Alimena, Sicily holds great secrets from the past and unspoken promises. Tradition, in the form of festivals, the written word, photographs, and song, reverberates through village walls. Now, slowly shaking itself free of the Mafia, Sicily is opening itself up to visitors in ways it never has before. Sicilian Splendors explores the history, politics, food, Mafia, and people which John Keahey encounters throughout his travels during his return to Sicily. Through conversing with natives and immersing himself in culture, Keahey illustrates a brand new Sicily no one has ever talked about before. Villagers, eager to welcome tourism and impart awareness of their cultural background, greet Keahey for meals and drink and walk him through their winding streets. They share stories of well-known writers, such as Maria Messina, who have found inspiration in Sicily’s villages. Keahey’s never-ending curiosity as a traveler shines light on Sicily’s mythical mysteries and portrays the island not only through his eyes but also through Sicily’s heart. This picturesque travel memoir navigates Sicily today and seeks to understand Sicily’s past. In lyrical prose and vivid dialect, Keahey paints images of the island’s villages, people, and culture with careful strokes and a meticulously even hand. Keahey not only serves as a guide through the marvel of Sicily’s identity, but he also looks deeply into Sicily’s soul.
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
ISBN: 125010470X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Book Description
"A wondrously joyous account of travel as it should be." –Publishers Weekly A travel narrative that focuses on Sicily's little-known regions, from the author of Seeking Sicily and Hidden Tuscany. From Palermo to Castiglione di Sicilia to Alimena, Sicily holds great secrets from the past and unspoken promises. Tradition, in the form of festivals, the written word, photographs, and song, reverberates through village walls. Now, slowly shaking itself free of the Mafia, Sicily is opening itself up to visitors in ways it never has before. Sicilian Splendors explores the history, politics, food, Mafia, and people which John Keahey encounters throughout his travels during his return to Sicily. Through conversing with natives and immersing himself in culture, Keahey illustrates a brand new Sicily no one has ever talked about before. Villagers, eager to welcome tourism and impart awareness of their cultural background, greet Keahey for meals and drink and walk him through their winding streets. They share stories of well-known writers, such as Maria Messina, who have found inspiration in Sicily’s villages. Keahey’s never-ending curiosity as a traveler shines light on Sicily’s mythical mysteries and portrays the island not only through his eyes but also through Sicily’s heart. This picturesque travel memoir navigates Sicily today and seeks to understand Sicily’s past. In lyrical prose and vivid dialect, Keahey paints images of the island’s villages, people, and culture with careful strokes and a meticulously even hand. Keahey not only serves as a guide through the marvel of Sicily’s identity, but he also looks deeply into Sicily’s soul.
Cucina Siciliana
Author: Clarissa Hyman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781840914092
Category : Cheese
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Book Description
Cucina Siciliana highlights easy, stylish and yet authentic dishes that readers will want to make regularly for after-work suppers and casual dinner parties. The recipes are organised into times of the day, from breakfast and morning snacks with coffee, through lunch to afternoon refreshments and evening meals. An introductory chapter gives insights into the island's special food culture. It features information on essential ingredients plus recipes for the frequently-used storecupboard sauces used to enhance all manner of foods from pasta and rice to fish and poultry. It is an inspiring book that will please travellers as well as foodies.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781840914092
Category : Cheese
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Book Description
Cucina Siciliana highlights easy, stylish and yet authentic dishes that readers will want to make regularly for after-work suppers and casual dinner parties. The recipes are organised into times of the day, from breakfast and morning snacks with coffee, through lunch to afternoon refreshments and evening meals. An introductory chapter gives insights into the island's special food culture. It features information on essential ingredients plus recipes for the frequently-used storecupboard sauces used to enhance all manner of foods from pasta and rice to fish and poultry. It is an inspiring book that will please travellers as well as foodies.
Rick Steves Sicily
Author: Rick Steves
Publisher: Rick Steves
ISBN: 1641711035
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 568
Book Description
Swim in the sparkling Mediterranean, marvel at the peak of Mount Etna, and get to know this region's timeless charm: with Rick Steves on your side, Sicily can be yours! Inside Rick Steves Sicily you'll find: Comprehensive coverage for spending a week or more exploring Sicily Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites Top sights and hidden gems, from Mount Etna and the Byzantine mosaics of Monreale to the Ballarò street market and Siracusa's puppet museum How to connect with culture: Savor seafood-centric cuisine made from ancient recipes, catch an opera performance at the Teatro Massimo, or sample authentic Marsala wine Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a glass of local Nero d'Avola Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums Detailed maps for exploring on the go Useful resources including a packing list, a historical overview, and useful Italian phrases Over 350 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down Complete, up-to-date information on Palermo, Cefalù, Trapani and the West Coast, Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, Ragusa and the Southeast, Catania, Taormina, and more Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Sicily.
Publisher: Rick Steves
ISBN: 1641711035
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 568
Book Description
Swim in the sparkling Mediterranean, marvel at the peak of Mount Etna, and get to know this region's timeless charm: with Rick Steves on your side, Sicily can be yours! Inside Rick Steves Sicily you'll find: Comprehensive coverage for spending a week or more exploring Sicily Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites Top sights and hidden gems, from Mount Etna and the Byzantine mosaics of Monreale to the Ballarò street market and Siracusa's puppet museum How to connect with culture: Savor seafood-centric cuisine made from ancient recipes, catch an opera performance at the Teatro Massimo, or sample authentic Marsala wine Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a glass of local Nero d'Avola Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums Detailed maps for exploring on the go Useful resources including a packing list, a historical overview, and useful Italian phrases Over 350 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down Complete, up-to-date information on Palermo, Cefalù, Trapani and the West Coast, Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, Ragusa and the Southeast, Catania, Taormina, and more Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Sicily.
The Invention of Sicily
Author: Jamie Mackay
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1786637766
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Whether you’re vacationing in Italy or simply an armchair traveler, this guide to the Mediterranean island of Sicily is a dazzling introduction to the region’s rich 3,000-year history and culture. A rich and fascinating cultural history of the Mediterranean’s enigmatic heart Sicily is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, and for over 2000 years has been the gateway between Europe, Africa and the East. It has long been seen as the frontier between Western Civilization and the rest, but never definitively part of either. Despite being conquered by empires—Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Hapsburg Spain—it remains uniquely apart. The island’s story maps a mosaic that mixes the story of myth and wars, maritime empires and reckless crusades, and a people who refuse to be ruled. In this riveting, rich history Jamie Mackay peels away the layers of this most mysterious of islands. This story finds its origins in ancient myth but has been reinventing itself across centuries: in conquest and resistance. Inseparable from these political and social developments are the artefacts of the nation’s cultural patrimony—ancient amphitheaters, Arab gardens, Baroque Cathedrals, as well as great literature such as Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s masterpiece The Leopard, and the novels and plays of Luigi Pirandello. In its modern era, Sicily has been the site of revolution, Cosa Nostra and, in the twenty-first century, the epicenter of the refugee crisis.
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1786637766
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Whether you’re vacationing in Italy or simply an armchair traveler, this guide to the Mediterranean island of Sicily is a dazzling introduction to the region’s rich 3,000-year history and culture. A rich and fascinating cultural history of the Mediterranean’s enigmatic heart Sicily is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, and for over 2000 years has been the gateway between Europe, Africa and the East. It has long been seen as the frontier between Western Civilization and the rest, but never definitively part of either. Despite being conquered by empires—Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Hapsburg Spain—it remains uniquely apart. The island’s story maps a mosaic that mixes the story of myth and wars, maritime empires and reckless crusades, and a people who refuse to be ruled. In this riveting, rich history Jamie Mackay peels away the layers of this most mysterious of islands. This story finds its origins in ancient myth but has been reinventing itself across centuries: in conquest and resistance. Inseparable from these political and social developments are the artefacts of the nation’s cultural patrimony—ancient amphitheaters, Arab gardens, Baroque Cathedrals, as well as great literature such as Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s masterpiece The Leopard, and the novels and plays of Luigi Pirandello. In its modern era, Sicily has been the site of revolution, Cosa Nostra and, in the twenty-first century, the epicenter of the refugee crisis.
Midnight In Sicily
Author: Peter Robb
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466861290
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 484
Book Description
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year From the author of M and A Death in Brazil comes Midnight in Sicily. South of mainland Italy lies the island of Sicily, home to an ancient culture that--with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archeology--has seduced travelers for centuries. But at the heart of the island's rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: Cosa Nostra, the Mafia. Peter Robb lived in southern Italy for over fourteen years and recounts its sensuous pleasures, its literature, politics, art, and crimes.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466861290
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 484
Book Description
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year From the author of M and A Death in Brazil comes Midnight in Sicily. South of mainland Italy lies the island of Sicily, home to an ancient culture that--with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archeology--has seduced travelers for centuries. But at the heart of the island's rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: Cosa Nostra, the Mafia. Peter Robb lived in southern Italy for over fourteen years and recounts its sensuous pleasures, its literature, politics, art, and crimes.
The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife
Author: Veronica Di Grigoli
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781514802250
Category : Man-woman relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
When career-girl Veronica flies to Sicily for a friend's wedding, she accidentally falls in love with one of the groom's three-hundred cousins. A year later she has given up her job, house and friends, and is planning her own wedding with her Latin Lover in the shimmering heat of Sicily.
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781514802250
Category : Man-woman relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
When career-girl Veronica flies to Sicily for a friend's wedding, she accidentally falls in love with one of the groom's three-hundred cousins. A year later she has given up her job, house and friends, and is planning her own wedding with her Latin Lover in the shimmering heat of Sicily.
The Sicilian Secret Diet Plan
Author: Giovanni Campanile
Publisher: Brick Tower Press
ISBN: 1899694714
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 436
Book Description
THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET PLAN is a clinically proven diet and lifestyle plan that helps you restore your intrinsic health and increase your longevity. More good news: you’ll enjoy the process. Written by a noted nutritional cardiologist / integrative medicine physician, with recipes supplied by his wife, also a physician (and a native of Sicily), THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET PLAN is much more than a credible, delicious way to eat well while losing excess weight and fat; it is a complete lifestyle plan that addresses all the elements essential to physical and mental wellness at any age. In the truest sense of the word, it is the “diet” for a good long life. Using down-to-earth language, the author condenses his years of study of longevity, diet, and the connection between lifestyle and disease to show us how easy—and enjoyable—is to live long and well. Credible, powerful, eye-opening, and inspiring, the information in THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET PLAN is life-changing. With narrative, sidebars, charts, stories, meal plans and recipes, you will learn how and why: • Ancient grains reverse heart disease • Group activities improve mental and physical health • Angry people have more heart attacks • When you stretch your body, you stretch your lifespan • Your environment changes your genes • Gratitude, forgiveness, and love are the core “feelings” that protect your health • Exercise affects your health and longevity • Your gut equals your immunity • A plant-based diet is an anti-cancer diet • Sleep has a direct effect on your weight, health, and longevity • You can eat your way to better health • And much, much more
Publisher: Brick Tower Press
ISBN: 1899694714
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 436
Book Description
THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET PLAN is a clinically proven diet and lifestyle plan that helps you restore your intrinsic health and increase your longevity. More good news: you’ll enjoy the process. Written by a noted nutritional cardiologist / integrative medicine physician, with recipes supplied by his wife, also a physician (and a native of Sicily), THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET PLAN is much more than a credible, delicious way to eat well while losing excess weight and fat; it is a complete lifestyle plan that addresses all the elements essential to physical and mental wellness at any age. In the truest sense of the word, it is the “diet” for a good long life. Using down-to-earth language, the author condenses his years of study of longevity, diet, and the connection between lifestyle and disease to show us how easy—and enjoyable—is to live long and well. Credible, powerful, eye-opening, and inspiring, the information in THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET PLAN is life-changing. With narrative, sidebars, charts, stories, meal plans and recipes, you will learn how and why: • Ancient grains reverse heart disease • Group activities improve mental and physical health • Angry people have more heart attacks • When you stretch your body, you stretch your lifespan • Your environment changes your genes • Gratitude, forgiveness, and love are the core “feelings” that protect your health • Exercise affects your health and longevity • Your gut equals your immunity • A plant-based diet is an anti-cancer diet • Sleep has a direct effect on your weight, health, and longevity • You can eat your way to better health • And much, much more
Sicilian Secrets: An Odyssey for Truth
Author: Alberta B. Hornyak
Publisher: BookLocker.com
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 233
Book Description
An immigrant, Italian family is humiliated by their daughter's actions. Eastville, a town of fifteen hundred. hears all. The rumor mill spins and spins. The family holds this secret tightly to the chest of ancestors and strangers. Secrets are knots, woven with an encore. All of the four estranged children live challenging lives. Connie, a granddaughter, grows up in a chaotic home. Her future is faced with depression and paternity confusion. After twenty-seven years, the mother's whereabouts are discovered. The mother is dead but leaves a daughter. Much communication ensues. Most families have a skeleton dangling in a closet somewhere. The descendants of Pietro and Guiseppina La Placa found many doors, as they walked the hall of life, with numerous skeletons ready to rattle out. This is foremost the story of Connie Basile, third generation Sicilian, who at an early age sensed the skeletons. “Why don’t I have a grandma?” elicited mother Serafina’s answer, “She’s dead.” But was Grandma Mazie dead? “May I see your wedding picture?” was cut off with “Don’t have any.” Despite Connie’s childhood in the stately Northend Tavern among small-town characters, her anxious nail-biting became recurring bouts of adult depression. Her brother Salvatore didn’t share her sensitivity to the family dynamic. Connie and her family are devout Catholics. Connie persevered to sing, teach, marry Ed, and raise four children after being widowed young. Grandma Mazie is discovered living a new life in Albany with her first husband Joe’s brother, Paul, and she has a daughter, Dina, much to the distress of the four children she ran away from. Dina tells Mazie's first family about her marvelous loving parents. Not until a passport clerk said, “Step aside. I have a different birth certificate here,” did the buzzing of town and family gossips make sense to Connie. She finds out she was adopted at the age of 4 by Constantino, her current father, from her mother’s first husband, Vincenzo. Outside the hall of secrets are glorious family celebrations with song, vino and homemade Italian food. Connie’s great aunts, accomplished seamstresses, and her uncles, close in age, adore her. She has many cousins. Eventually, Connie discovers a kindred soul in a half-sister, Sally, Vincenzo’s daughter. Overall, Sicilian Secrets is a story of Connie's triumphs.
Publisher: BookLocker.com
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 233
Book Description
An immigrant, Italian family is humiliated by their daughter's actions. Eastville, a town of fifteen hundred. hears all. The rumor mill spins and spins. The family holds this secret tightly to the chest of ancestors and strangers. Secrets are knots, woven with an encore. All of the four estranged children live challenging lives. Connie, a granddaughter, grows up in a chaotic home. Her future is faced with depression and paternity confusion. After twenty-seven years, the mother's whereabouts are discovered. The mother is dead but leaves a daughter. Much communication ensues. Most families have a skeleton dangling in a closet somewhere. The descendants of Pietro and Guiseppina La Placa found many doors, as they walked the hall of life, with numerous skeletons ready to rattle out. This is foremost the story of Connie Basile, third generation Sicilian, who at an early age sensed the skeletons. “Why don’t I have a grandma?” elicited mother Serafina’s answer, “She’s dead.” But was Grandma Mazie dead? “May I see your wedding picture?” was cut off with “Don’t have any.” Despite Connie’s childhood in the stately Northend Tavern among small-town characters, her anxious nail-biting became recurring bouts of adult depression. Her brother Salvatore didn’t share her sensitivity to the family dynamic. Connie and her family are devout Catholics. Connie persevered to sing, teach, marry Ed, and raise four children after being widowed young. Grandma Mazie is discovered living a new life in Albany with her first husband Joe’s brother, Paul, and she has a daughter, Dina, much to the distress of the four children she ran away from. Dina tells Mazie's first family about her marvelous loving parents. Not until a passport clerk said, “Step aside. I have a different birth certificate here,” did the buzzing of town and family gossips make sense to Connie. She finds out she was adopted at the age of 4 by Constantino, her current father, from her mother’s first husband, Vincenzo. Outside the hall of secrets are glorious family celebrations with song, vino and homemade Italian food. Connie’s great aunts, accomplished seamstresses, and her uncles, close in age, adore her. She has many cousins. Eventually, Connie discovers a kindred soul in a half-sister, Sally, Vincenzo’s daughter. Overall, Sicilian Secrets is a story of Connie's triumphs.
Seeking Sicily
Author: John Keahey
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429990678
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
"Keahey's exploration of this misunderstood island offers a much-needed look at a much-maligned land."—Paul Paolicelli, author of Under the Southern Sun Sicily is the Mediterranean's largest and most mysterious island. Its people, for three thousand years under the thumb of one invader after another, hold tightly onto a culture so unique that they remain emotionally and culturally distinct, viewing themselves first as Sicilians, not Italians. Many of these islanders, carrying considerable DNA from Arab and Muslim ancestors who ruled for 250 years and integrated vast numbers of settlers from the continent just ninety miles to the south, say proudly that Sicily is located north of Africa, not south of Italy. Seeking Sicily explores what lies behind the soul of the island's inhabitants. It touches on history, archaeology, food, the Mafia, and politics and looks to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sicilian authors to plumb the islanders' so-called Sicilitudine. This "culture apart" is best exemplified by the writings of one of Sicily's greatest writers, Leonardo Sciascia. Seeking Sicily also looks to contemporary Sicilians who have never shaken off the influences of their forbearers, who believed in the ancient gods and goddesses. Author John Keahey is not content to let images from the island's overly touristed villages carry the story. Starting in Palermo, he journeyed to such places as Arab-founded Scopello on the west coast, the Greek ruins of Selinunte on the southwest, and Sciascia's ancestral village of Racalmuto in the south, where he experienced unique, local festivals. He spent Easter Week in Enna at the island's center, witnessing surreal processions that date back to Spanish rule. And he learned about Sicilian cuisine in Spanish Baroque Noto and Greek Siracusa in the southeast, and met elderly, retired fishermen in the tiny east-coast fishing village of Aci Trezza, home of the mythical Cyclops and immortalized by Luchino Visconti's mid-1940s film masterpiece, La terra trema. He walked near the summit of Etna, Europe's largest and most active volcano, studied the mountain's role in creating this island, and looked out over the expanse of the Ionian Sea, marveling at the three millennia of myths and history that forged Sicily into what it is today.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429990678
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
"Keahey's exploration of this misunderstood island offers a much-needed look at a much-maligned land."—Paul Paolicelli, author of Under the Southern Sun Sicily is the Mediterranean's largest and most mysterious island. Its people, for three thousand years under the thumb of one invader after another, hold tightly onto a culture so unique that they remain emotionally and culturally distinct, viewing themselves first as Sicilians, not Italians. Many of these islanders, carrying considerable DNA from Arab and Muslim ancestors who ruled for 250 years and integrated vast numbers of settlers from the continent just ninety miles to the south, say proudly that Sicily is located north of Africa, not south of Italy. Seeking Sicily explores what lies behind the soul of the island's inhabitants. It touches on history, archaeology, food, the Mafia, and politics and looks to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sicilian authors to plumb the islanders' so-called Sicilitudine. This "culture apart" is best exemplified by the writings of one of Sicily's greatest writers, Leonardo Sciascia. Seeking Sicily also looks to contemporary Sicilians who have never shaken off the influences of their forbearers, who believed in the ancient gods and goddesses. Author John Keahey is not content to let images from the island's overly touristed villages carry the story. Starting in Palermo, he journeyed to such places as Arab-founded Scopello on the west coast, the Greek ruins of Selinunte on the southwest, and Sciascia's ancestral village of Racalmuto in the south, where he experienced unique, local festivals. He spent Easter Week in Enna at the island's center, witnessing surreal processions that date back to Spanish rule. And he learned about Sicilian cuisine in Spanish Baroque Noto and Greek Siracusa in the southeast, and met elderly, retired fishermen in the tiny east-coast fishing village of Aci Trezza, home of the mythical Cyclops and immortalized by Luchino Visconti's mid-1940s film masterpiece, La terra trema. He walked near the summit of Etna, Europe's largest and most active volcano, studied the mountain's role in creating this island, and looked out over the expanse of the Ionian Sea, marveling at the three millennia of myths and history that forged Sicily into what it is today.