The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
Bestselling author and award-winning journalist Jo Piazza has long been one of our most treasured podcasters. Now she’s written the perfect beach read for all of us murder-mystery-loving feminist travelers (is there any other kind?) — all set on the toe of Italy.
The Sicilian Inheritance book by Jo Piazza.
The phrase “page-turner” can mean many things to many people. For those whose criteria include mystery, romance, equal rights, history, or food, The Sicilian Inheritance has you covered. Impressively, author Jo Piazza packs it all in while keeping the tone light and the reading pace speedy. In fact, this book is hard to put down. For a summer beach read or a vicarious escape from any hemisphere, get your hands on a copy of The Sicilian Inheritance this season.
The premise is simple. Sara Marsala - woman, mother, butcher/chef, and soon-to-be-ex-wife - loses her great aunt just when her life is falling apart at the seams. As the favorite adopted niece, she inherits an old deed to family land back in Sicily. Hating herself and her circumstances, she sets out on a quick trip to see if the claim might save her from financial and existential ruin. Of course, it does much more than that.
Despite the relative simplicity of the plot, Piazza weaves complexity into the story with nuanced characters, a vivid sense of place, and a deep well of historical background to contextualize the events that transpire. The action whips back and forth between past and present as both Sara and her ill-fated great-grandmother tell their first-person tales, bringing the reader into what feels like immediate contact with both the sensory topography of Sicily and what it means to be a woman.
In a time when feminism is as controversial and crucial as ever, it’s refreshing to read a book that approaches the topic so casually. The historical element to the novel, which delves into the varied and often perilous roles women have played in Sicilian culture, offers some of the most compelling pages without harping or soapboxing. Scattered between their flirtations with men and danger, Sara and her great-grandmother simply acknowledge how the odds are stacked against them and then, with a little help from their girlfriends, do their best to get around them.
The Sicilian Inheritance sprints by like a heartbreaking, inspirational romp across time and continents. Think one part second-season White Lotus, one part The Neapolitan Novels, a dash of sass, and all parts grit. Ultimately, while it paints Sicily in a potentially sinister light for women traveling on their own, the book also captures some enticing slices of food and culture that invite a deeper travel experience to the stunning, multifaceted island off the toe of Italy.
