Bread, Wine and Angels

Lori A. Dunn is a teacher, instructional designer, and freelance writer
in New Westminster, British Columbia.

In North America, the postwar conveniences that made women’s lives
easier also robbed us of the hours spent planting, gathering, and
preparing food. In many cultures, women have tended to group together to
accomplish these tasks, thereby gaining an opportunity to talk and share
ideas and information about life. These crucial rituals are lovingly
evoked in Anna Zurzolo’s loving portrait of life in a secluded Italian
mountain town. Encouraged by both her Mammarosa and her aunt, Bella
allows her undying curiosity for the patterns of village life to
flourish. She has unending questions about the meaning of everything,
and we share in her delightful—and sometimes disturbing—education.
She discovers the rules for dealing with neighbors, why “brodo”
(chicken broth) is made for the new mother and her child, the dangers of
hunting for mushrooms, and why wine is likened to the daughters of a
family.

Zurzolo has encapsulated the spirit of the Italian people in a novel
about how a small town maintains its connections to food, nature, and
traditions. The people in the town, and their relationships to each one
another, are vividly drawn. The inclusion of classic Italian recipes
adds to the book’s value.