A House in Sicily
A Book Review
26.04.2013
A House in Sicily
I haven’t blogged for a long while. I’ve been working on some other projects and (of course) travelling. I thought I’d resume the blog with a review of a book about travelling. The charm of this memoir, A House in Sicily, is its delightful narrator and her storytelling ability. Daphne Phelps tells the story of how she happened to inherit a home on a hilltop in the Sicilian town of Taormina. With virtually no money to care for the house and property, she turns the place into a small hotel and invites her friends from England to come and stay for a small fee. These friends include artists and literary luminaries such as the cranky Roald Dahl, Bertrand Russell, and even Caitlin Thomas. Rumor has it that Greta Garbo once stayed in the house for a summer, although Phelps was too classy to admit this. The book is a series of vignettes about her guests, the struggle she had to keep the house and navigate through the Sicilian legal (or not so legal) system, and about the characters who inhabit Taormina. If you have been to Taormina, the book will make you want to go back. If you haven't, the book will entice you to go. Either way, it's worth reading. By the way, Casa Cuseni is still a hotel where you can stay. I, for one, am planning to do just that.
Posted by teethetrav 14:28 Archived in Italy Tagged travel italy books sicily taormina memoir Comments (0)
