The Lady of the Wheel (La Ruotaia) | |
Title Orig: | The Lady of the Wheel (La Ruotaia) |
Author: | Angelo F. Coniglio |
Country: | Sicily |
Language: | English and Sicilian |
Genre: | Fiction |
Publisher: | Legas |
Pub Date: | 2012 |
Media Type: | Print (Paperback) |
Isbn: | 1881901-86-6 |
The Lady of the Wheel (La Ruotaia) is a 2012 historical fiction novel[1] by Sicilian American author Angelo F. Coniglio. The book follows the life of a girl who was abandoned as an infant, with the major themes of the book including poverty, exploitation and family values.[2] [3] [4] [5] Coniglio's work has been compared to the verismo (realism) of Sicilian author Giovanni Verga.[6] [7]
A mother abandons an infant girl, placing her inside a 'foundling wheel' to be cared for in a foundling home, and the woman's husband gives up a young son as a carusu, a virtual slave in a sulfur mine; both actions intended to help the remaining family to survive in poverty-stricken Racalmuto, in late-1800s Sicily. It was common for families to give up their boys at the age of five as carusi, selling them to the mining company for life for a small price, and the parents treat it matter-of-factly as a regrettable but unavoidable decision. The plot follows the girl's life as a foundling, and her brother's labors in the mine, working ten-hour days in hellish conditions, and their interactions with family and co-workers. As plot devices, the author includes examples of Napoleon-inspired recording of civil documents, and describes the Sicilian conventions for selecting the given names of a family's children.