I Am a Reader - "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby

I am participating in the "Italy in Books" Reading Challenge hosted by Brighton Blogger at Book After Book and have set the goal of reading and reviewing one book about or set in Italy each month.  For this month I just finished re-reading a book entitled, The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby. 

It was originally written in Italian but has been translated and is available in English.  The novel is set in a small fictitious village called Roccacolomba, Sicily in the year 1963.  It spans the four weeks following the funeral of Mennulara (a nickname which means almond picker), a servant of a wealthy family who started out as a maid and ended up being the administrator of the family estate.  She was a dirt-poor peasant girl who went into service at the age of 13 to support her sick mother and sister.  I found the story fascinating because it presented such a realistic, typical picture of a small Sicilian comune.  It could have been the village of my grandparents.  The mystery of Mennulara unfolds as the author introduces the various citizens of the town from the local priest, the doctor, the postmaster, the book seller, the old men of the Conversation Club, and recounts their thoughts, observations and conversations with each other.  The reader is invited into the back-biting, the gossip, the old grudges, the prejudices, the petty squabbles and the judgments that fill the lives of people who know everyone else's business...people who watch and notice every nuance and give it meaning.

It was interesting to see how feudal society remained even in 1963, with the peasants separate from the wealthy landowners.  The town remained divided between Roccacolumba Alta and Roccacolumba Bassa.  Every person had his or her own story about Mennulara. Some see her as a servant who didn't know her place.  Others saw her as strong, loyal and resourceful. How she came to be the power in the family is what unfolds as you read to the end.  While the mystery is not overly intriguing, the real power of the book is the story of the village...how it is explored and exposed.  At the end, I felt like I had just spent an extended time in this village, sitting in the piazzas, eavesdropping on whispered conversations.

The author, Simonetta Agnello Hornby, was born in Palermo in Sicily and studied law in England. She has lived in London for thirty years where she works as a lawyer for children with special needs. The Almond Picker, her first novel, was a bestseller in Italy and has been published in twelve languages.

Simonetta Agnello Hornby

Here is an interesting article from The Independent website with an interview with the author.

Some information about Sicilian Almonds:
Almonds are believed to have been introduced to Sicily before 1000 BCE and are very much a part of the Sicilian culture and cuisine.

Almonds grow wonderfully in the Sicilian climate and in the spring an annual Almond Blossom Festival is held in the town of Agrigento where the blossoming trees provide a beautiful foreground for the five magnificent Greek Temples in the Valley of the Temples.  The Sicilian almond is associated with love and fidelity, symbolizing good fortune.  They are sugar-coated and given out at weddings and baptisms as "confetti." Called "le mandorle" in Italian, almonds are used in many dishes, especially confections.  The wonderful amaretti cookies that are made from almond paste are something we can never get enough of when we visit there.  Famous Martorana cookies made from almond pasta reale in the shape of vivid fruits are famous in the Palermo region.

A special memory I hold is of being taken into a local bar midday on a very hot summer day and introduced to the most refreshing drink...a cold glass of "latte di mandorla" (almond milk).