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2000s: Most victims of the mafia are the Sicilians themselves.
The Sicilian Woman’s Daughter
What you need to know before your trail
Most victims of the mafia are the Sicilians themselves. The role of women both as perpetrators and victims has been grossly overlooked. Until now. As the daughter of Sicilian immigrants, in her teens Maria turns her back on her origins and fully embraces the English way of life. Notwithstanding her troubled and humble childhood in London, and backed up by her intelligence, beauty and sheer determination, she triumphantly works her way up to join the upper middle-class of British society. There she becomes a bastion of civility. But a minor incident wakes up feelings of revenge in her like those lurking in Maria’s Sicilian origins. As she delves deeper into her mother’s family history a murky past unravels, drawing Maria more and more into a mire of vendetta
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Italy – Sicily
The journey all the way down to the tip of Italy, the toe of the boot – was excruciating. The heat in the train, unbearable”
Villa San Giovanni
They change trains here and a fascinating account is told of how the train is “broken into fragments of three coaches and loaded into the dark bellly of the ferry” On the other side, the train continues its journey
The heritage of Sicily and the mafia origins
“The Romans captures Sicily and made it there own. Created a system called latifondo, a feudal system , whereby peasants rented land from the owner from a sub-lessor. That systems survived well into the 1950s. The Mafia emerged from the latifondo. The landowners’s men paid thugs to keep the peasants from revoting; to punish those workers who dared to complain. But workers also sought to rise above their stations and either cooperated with their very exploiters or organised groups among themselves to threaten their own. Thus they could acquire a piece of land or demand a percentage from their fellow-peasants. A savage survival of the fittest ensued post World War 11. Rome couldn’t cope, or did’t want to cope, with Sicily any more. The island went its own way.”
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
An interesting and thought provoking read this one.Mary also known as Maria has two identities – an Italian one and a British one. She now lives in London but returns to the place known as The Village, in Sicily to unpack the mysteries of her past.
She’s living a troubled life, not feeling part of the world she’s now in – She’s known not by her name by many but as “the Sicilan woman’s daughter” and this separation of identities and anonymity is crushing to read about.
Maria tells her story of her Sicily and the image the world has of that place – its mafia connections and how she and everyone from there is tarred with the same brush. As the story takes us on that (very fascinating) train journey across to the island, secrets start to float to the surface, as do the bodies from the depths of the water no doubt.
A fascinating look at the mafia stain on a family of women and what they have to do to survive, bring justice and not be a victim. Thee’s four generations of women’s tories to immerse yourself in and this is a real treat, never too much nor too long. Sicilian words pepper the text as they would the pasta.
An enthralling read on many levels.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Sicilian Woman’s Daughter
Destination : Sicily Author/Guide: Linda Lo Scuro Departure Time: 2000s
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