Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
This is the captivating memoir of a resourceful woman who started life anew in the "most beautiful house in Sicily." For fifty years, at Casa Cuseni in the small Sicilian town of Taormina, Daphne Phelps has extended her English charm and warm hospitality to seasoned travelers and professional escapists as well as to writers and artists like Tennessee Williams, Bertrand Russell, Henry Faulkner, and Roald Dahl. This memoir tells their story, and hers. It begins in 1947 when, thirty-four years old and war-weary, a modest Englishwoman arrived in Taormina with little Italian, less money, and a plan to sell the property she had unexpectedly inherited. Instead, she fell in love, not just with the airy quarters of the golden stone house on a hillside but also with a community and its way of life. To save Casa Cuseni from certain demolition, Daphne converted her enchanting inheritance into the wondrous pensione that for nearly half a century she has run with the blessing of every Taorminan from the local silk-shirted godfather, Don Ciccio, to Concetta Genio, her steadfast cook, housekeeper, and friend. "A loving portrait ... of a vanishing way of life." - New York Times Book Review; "The often humorous clash of cultures ... [and] the stories of the ordinary Sicilian men and women who populate the pages that make this book, and this place, so special,... so thoroughly alive." - Chicago Tribune.
Synopsis
This is the captivating memoir of a resourceful woman who started life anew in the "most beautiful house in Sicily." For fifty years, at Casa Cuseni in the small Sicilian town of Taormina, Daphne Phelps has extended her English charm and warm hospitality to seasoned travelers and professional escapists as well as to writers and artists like Tennessee Williams, Bertrand Russell, Henry Faulkner, and Roald Dahl. This memoir tells their story, and hers. It begins in 1947 when, thirty-four years old and war-weary, a modest Englishwoman arrived in Taormina with little Italian, less money, and a plan to sell the property she had unexpectedly inherited. Instead, she fell in love, not just with the airy quarters of the golden stone house on a hillside but also with a community and its way of life. To save Casa Cuseni from certain demolition, Daphne converted her enchanting inheritance into the wondrous pensione that for nearly half a century she has run with the blessing of every Taorminan from the local silk-shirted godfather, Don Ciccio, to Concetta Genio, her steadfast cook, housekeeper, and friend. "A loving portrait ... of a vanishing way of life." - New York Times Book Review; "The often humorous clash of cultures ... [and] the stories of the ordinary Sicilian men and women who populate the pages that make this book, and this place, so special,... so thoroughly alive." - Chicago Tribune.
Publishers Weekly
In this charming memoir, Phelps recounts how she indirectly inherited a villa in Taormina shortly after the end of WWII. Her uncle, who had originally purchased the land and built the house, left no will, so the villa went to the author's aunt. Realizing that her aunt had no interest in the property, Phelps, who is British, headed to Sicily with the intent to sell but ended up as enchanted with the area and the property as her uncle had been. She turned the house into an inn in order to make enough money to maintain it, and later she received many famous guests, Roald Dahl among them. Phelps is clearly well integrated into Taormina after 50 years, and she lovingly and teasingly depicts her companions. Concetta, who has worked for the author for three decades, is a no-nonsense woman who initially insisted she couldn't serve as cook because she knew how to prepare only Sicilian food. Phelps, who was a social worker before moving to Italy, has a keen anthropological eye. Her portrait of a local Mafia don, who has no phone but instructs her simply to phone his village's main operator if she needs to reach him, manages to be both humorous and serious. Another chapter on the local police forces--carabinieri, the sanitary police, the financial police, etc.--captures Italy's bureaucracy beautifully. Since chapters are organized by topic, occasionally the date of certain events is unclear, but otherwise, this is a refreshing look at a place that so many have stereotyped and so few have known as well as Phelps. Illustrations. not seen by PW. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
There are several ways to read A House in Sicily. On one level it can be read as a dynamic autobiography, full of insight and anecdotes, beginning with the story of how Phelps came to live at Casa Cuseni.
Phelps, a professionally trained social worker, passed World War II in the United States, traveling around the country and having all kinds of adventures. When she returned to England she was unhappy. Phelps found postwar England austere and stifling and was in the midst of trying to sort out what to do with her life when she received word that she had inherited her uncle's grand house in Taormina, Sicily.
Phelps was excited by the prospect of a trip to Taormina, even if it was only to arrange for the sale of Casa Cuseni. Taormina is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sicily. Famous for its exquisite views, Greek amphitheater, medieval streets, and proximity to Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, Taormina has attracted international visitors for years.
Like most of southern Italy, however, Taormina has been slow to adopt the conventions of modernity. For most of the latter half of the 20th century the penetration of telephones and televisions was minimal, and cars were few and far between, the patriarchy was well entrenched, and the religious population fervently clung to the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
Phelps, a trouser-wearing, car-driving, liberated, professional Englishwoman, caused quite a sensation upon her arrival in Taormina. But as she got to know the locals, most of whom revered her uncle, and saw Casa Cuseni, Phelps overlooked the cultural differences between England and Italy and decided to stay. It's no wonder why.
A House in Sicily also can be read as a love letter to Casa Cuseni. Widely considered an architectural treasure, Casa Cuseni has been featured in many magazines and chronicled in several books on Italy. Phelps's descriptions paint Casa Cuseni as a stunning house complemented by gorgeous gardens and breathtaking views of Mount Etna.
Phelps had never intended to turn Casa Cuseni into a hotel. However, when her limited funds began to run out, she realized that taking in guests was the best way to extend her stay in Taormina. But, Phelps is clearly a natural hostess, and the many guests who frequented Casa Cuseni delighted in her hospitality and charm. Some of her more famous guests include Tennessee Williams, Bertrand Russell, Roald Dahl, and the painter Henry Faulkner.
Although the stories about the famous guests are interesting, more entertaining are the stories about Phelps's Sicilian friends, acquaintances, and her help at Casa Cuseni. Her devoted housekeeper, Concetta; the local Mafia don; and Beppe, the houseboy, are some of the more memorable characters, in some cases eclipsing the house as the star of the book. These character sketches contribute to the vivid portrait of Taormina and the Sicilian way of life, making A House in Sicily an engaging travelogue, too.
Fifty years later, Phelps is as enamored of her home as she was when she first laid eyes on it. "Never have I tired of the ever-changing beauty of the garden, or of the dignity and perfect proportions of the house built in golden stone. And that view...to live opposite Etna, the highest, most active volcano in Europe, is indeed a privilege," Phelps wrote.
After reading A House in Sicily, you too will be enchanted with Casa Cuseni, and you'll be jealous of the lucky guests who had a chance to enjoy it.
—Emily Burg is a journalist who lives in a small, overpriced apartment in New York.
Publishers Weekly -
In this charming memoir, Phelps recounts how she indirectly inherited a villa in Taormina shortly after the end of WWII. Her uncle, who had originally purchased the land and built the house, left no will, so the villa went to the author's aunt. Realizing that her aunt had no interest in the property, Phelps, who is British, headed to Sicily with the intent to sell but ended up as enchanted with the area and the property as her uncle had been. She turned the house into an inn in order to make enough money to maintain it, and later she received many famous guests, Roald Dahl among them. Phelps is clearly well integrated into Taormina after 50 years, and she lovingly and teasingly depicts her companions. Concetta, who has worked for the author for three decades, is a no-nonsense woman who initially insisted she couldn't serve as cook because she knew how to prepare only Sicilian food. Phelps, who was a social worker before moving to Italy, has a keen anthropological eye. Her portrait of a local Mafia don, who has no phone but instructs her simply to phone his village's main operator if she needs to reach him, manages to be both humorous and serious. Another chapter on the local police forces--carabinieri, the sanitary police, the financial police, etc.--captures Italy's bureaucracy beautifully. Since chapters are organized by topic, occasionally the date of certain events is unclear, but otherwise, this is a refreshing look at a place that so many have stereotyped and so few have known as well as Phelps. Illustrations. not seen by PW. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
In 1947, when 34-year-old Englishwoman Phelps inherited her uncle's beautiful stone house in Taormina, Sicily, her first intention was to sell it. She, an Englishwoman in 1947, had neither the inclination nor the means to move to Sicily and take care of Casa Cuseni--but that was before she made her first visit and fell in love with the house and the Italian way of life. In this memoir, Phelps, a psychiatric social worker, tells how she managed to keep her uncle's house by opening it to foreign visitors--writers, painters, and those as enchanted as she was by the view of the snow-covered Mount Etna--despite having little money and difficulties with the Italian officials. Like Frances Mayes in Under the Tuscan Sun (LJ 9/1/96), Phelps describes not only the beauty of the area but the local people who were always willing to help her, from Don Ciccio, the town's Mafia don, to loyal cook Concetta. Unlike Mayes, though, Phelps has had such notables as Bertrand Russell, Tennessee Williams, Roald Dahl, and Henry Faulkner stay with her, and she includes engaging stories about each. Particularly amusing is the account of Faulkner's visit, accompanied by six cats, three dogs, a duck, and a baby goat. A delightful, humorous book; strongly recommended for all public libraries.--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Joan Tapper
A House in Sicily looks back at the Sicily of another time - but the result is a work of timeless appeal.— Islands
Joan Tapper
First there was Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, and more recently Frances Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun. Daphne Phelps now joins the group of house-owning expatriates with A House in Sicily, a recollection of her 50 years at Casa Cuseni. When 34-year-old Phelps inherited a villa outside Taormina in 1947, she expected to sell the house and return to England - and her career as a psychiatric social worker. But the property's sale fell through, and then literary and artistic friends came to stay. Eventually her Casa Cuseni became a small, recherché pensione. The book is filled with memorable local characters - from a Mafia don to Phelps's gifted cook - and renowned visitors like Dylan Thomas's widow and novelist Roald Dahl. If her writing lacks the pizzazz of Mayle or the poetry of Mayes, Phelps compensates with straightforward but thoughtful prose. A House in Sicily looks back at the Sicily of another time - but the result is a work of timeless appeal.—Islands Magazine