The
scent
of
oranges
and
almonds.
The
luxurious
sheen
of
fresh-pressed
olive
oil.
The
intoxicating
sweetness
of
a
cake
called "The
Triumph
of
Greed." Religious
festivals
at
which
celebrants
tidy
up
their
family
tombs
and
make
archangels
dance
in
the
village
piazza.
Tales
like
these,
along
with
all
the
myriad
sights,
flavors,
and
fragrances
of
Sicily,
burst
from
the
pages
of
this
gem
of
contemporary
travel
writing.
Simeti
went
to
Sicily
for
a
year
and
stayed
twenty.
With
both
a
native's
intimacy
and
the
fresh
eye
of
an
outsider,
she
chronicles
a
year
in
the
place
she
calls
Persephone's
island,
after
the
goddess
who
once
made
Sicily
her
home.
Simeti
navigates
through
Sicily's
history
of
Greek,
Arab,
Norman,
and
Spanish
conquests.
She
savors
the
fruits
of
its
harvests
and
introduces
us
to
a
neighbor who "borrows" a
tree
for
Christmas
and
returns
it
along
with
a
homemade
cheese.
Poetic
and
precise,
learned
personal,
this
is
an
absorbing
account
of
a
love
affair
with
Sicily.
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