The Art of Joy centers on Modesta, a Sicilian woman born on January 1, 1900, whose strength and character are an affront to conventional morality. Friend, mother, lover—Modesta revels in upsetting the rules of her fascist, patriarchal society. A fictionalized memoir, a book of romance and adventure, a feminist text, a bildungsroman—this novel is ultimately undefinable but deeply necessary; its genius will leave readers breathless. "Sapienza’s style is dramatic...her dialogue is operatic in its intensity...it is an astute litany of the moral, political, and feminist issues of the last century." —Deborah Donovan, Booklist |