BUSTLE BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK PICK NAMED A BOOKSHOP.ORG RECOMMENDED READING OF THE SEASON In
this charming deeply atmospheric novel set against the Amalfi Coast of the 1950s two women
form an intense and lasting friendship that embodies the paradoxes of Italian society. Inspired
by her own adventurous unconventional life actress and writer Goliarda Sapienza s recently
rediscovered novel takes the reader to the sun-drenched town of Positano in southern Italy.
There while working on a film Goliarda encounters the captivating Erica a beautiful widow
called Princess by the locals who has been the object of much speculation. As the two women
grow closer in spite of their different personalities they gradually reveal more about their
thoughts feelings and experiences and the ghosts from their pasts that continue to hang over
them. Writing the story of their transformative friendship thirty years later Goliarda offers
a profound reflection on love in its many forms and opens a window onto an enchanting time and
place that lingers in the mind. And this unlikely bond forged between a leftist idealist and a
traditional aristocrat acts as a microcosm of Italy illuminating its complex competing
impulses.
