Women and Lovers

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

Maria Ardizzi lives in Toronto and is the author of four novels. Women
and Lovers is the English-language translation of a novel originally
published in Italian. Its protagonists are Agostina and Guilia, a mother
and daughter who have been separated by the trials of assimilation.
Guilia’s father Rocco, who lives in a home for the aged, has
Alzheimer’s disease. As his memory progressively deteriorates, the two
women reclaim their own memories, both as women and as mother and
daughter. Agostina turns increasingly to Guilia when Rocco begins to
form relationships with women on his ward. Guilia, whose marriage has
just broken up, remembers just what she learned from her parents as she
was growing up, and realizes that she can establish a better
relationship with her mother.

While the novel is mainly about the renewed relationship between mother
and daughter, the descriptions of the changes in Rocco as his disease
progresses are very vivid. Short in length, Women and Lovers is rich in
emotion and cultural detail.