The Librarians of Alexandria: A Tale of two Sisters
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Drawn from actual events and characters in the author’s family history, The Librarians of Alexandria is a multi-generational saga spanning the years from the Unification of Italy in 1870 to the end of the Second World War. The librarians are the two Sisters Canterno: the beautiful, impassioned Marta and the withdrawn yet loving Margherita. Their intertwining stories are told by Marta’s daughter, Adriana, who alternately narrates as a young girl and as a grown woman, reminiscing with the aged and infirm Margherita. Set in Alexandria, Rome, and Palermo, the novel is at once circular and epic, a love song to culture – to languages and books, art and music – told in sensuous prose that evokes the sounds of rustling parchment manuscripts, parlor games, songs, and the strife of antiaircraft fire, while conjuring the scents of old libraries, dusty alleys, silkworm farms, and mandarin oranges.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Teresa
Lust
Teresa Lust is the author of Pass the Polenta: and Other Writings from the Kitchen. She is a graduate of Washington State University and holds a master’s degree from Dartmouth College. Lust currently teaches Italian for the Rassias Center for World Languages at Dartmouth and teaches cooking classes. She lives in New Hampshire.
Teresa Lust is the author of Pass the Polenta: and Other Writings from the Kitchen. She is a graduate of Washington State University and holds a master’s degree from Dartmouth College. Lust currently teaches Italian for the Rassias Center for World Languages at Dartmouth and teaches cooking classes. She lives in New Hampshire.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Drawn from actual events and characters in the author’s family history is a multi-generational saga spanning the years from the Unification of Italy in 1870 to the end of the Second World War.