Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily

In 'A Knot of Tears, ' a woman's locked-up life is transformed by a parrot who tells tales; her story becomes a subtle and surprising meditation on the necessity of being true to oneself and others. In 'Rusina, Not Quite in Love, ' a strange and lovely retelling of the story of the 'Beauty and the Beast, ' a young woman escapes family and society to find consolation and beauty in nature and its muse. In each case, women of very different backgrounds -- one aristocratic, one impoverished -- find solitary spaces from which they can emerge as artists and shapers of their own destinies.