"Woman at War" is the diary of a woman's growing self-awareness. Beginning as a passively absent narrator, Vannina encounters a fascinating array of characters during the holiday she takes on an island in the Bay of Naples with her husband, Giacinto. When he returns to work in a garage in Rome, Vannina travels to Naples with Suna, a friend she has made on vacation. This startling character opens Vannina to the possibility of finding love through other women and helps her reject the role of serving coffee to the men who would change the world through violence. Back in Rome, Vannina rejects her former life and moves toward complete, if difficult, independence. Maraini's writing is superb. Its warm and sensual style gives life to details: the food of the Mediterranean, the smell of its herbs, the acts of making coffee and making love, the step-by-step journey of an individual to self-awareness, self-reliance and independence. Everything is vivid and vibrant. Maraini's women grow in strength beyond the clamor of political slogans. The values of understanding, intuition and compassion effect real change that transcends the wearisome struggle between the chauvinisms of the political Right and the political correctness of the Left. A milestone in Italian literature. "A sensually written fictional diary of an Italian woman's growing self-awareness as she frees herself from a constraining marriage, discovers love through other women, and moves toward independence." -- Ms., May/June 1992 "Dacia Maraini remains a champion of women's rights, and this novel is the revelation of her feminism." -- America Oggi, Nov. 2, 1989 "[ Woman at War ] remains an important part of Maraini's opus and is a vital part of the tradition of feminist writing in diary form." -- Italica, AATI, 71.2, Summer 1994 Maraini is one of Italy's leading contemporary writers. Her warm and sensual style gives life to details: the food of the Mediterranean, the smell of its herbs, the acts of making coffee and making love - everything is vivid and vibrant. Maraini insists that women's voices need to be heard beyond the clamor of political slogans. Here women grow in strength; the feminist values of understanding, intuition and compassion effect real change that transcends the wearisome struggle between the chauvinisms of political right and left. Woman at War is superbly written. A milestone in Italian literature. Dacia Maraini, novelist, poet, dramatist and journalist, was born in Florence in 1936. Among her best known works, besides Donna in guerra , are Mio marito (1968), Memorie di una ladra (1972), Il treno per Helsinki (1984), and La lunga vita di Marianna Ucria (1990). Addis, August 31 "What's this?" 'Your share." They laughed at my surprise and looked at me with cheerful shining eyes. "My share of what?" "Of the American woman's stuff which we sold in Naples. It didn't come to much because they only paid us by weight for the pendant, the bastards. This is your share." I put the roll down on the ironing board. I didn't at all like the idea of keeping it. Giottina frowned. "If you don't take it, you'll offend us deeply." "I don't want anything from that dead woman." "Is it wrong to steal from the dead? To steal from the living, yes it is, but from the dead, no it's not, because they see you and if they're not happy about it they cause you to get caught. So if you don't get caught, it means they must be pleased." They burst out laughing, and I laughed with them. "Anyway on this island everyone with their hearts in the right place steals." "The mayor steals." "The councillors steal." "The police sergeant steals." "The parish priest steals." "The shopkeepers steal." "The landlords steal." "The restaurant owners steal." "The hotel keepers steal." "The bar managers steal." "The fishermen steal." "The maids steal from their masters." "The masters steal from their maids." "The only people who don't steal are the thieves because they're always in the nick so they don't have much time to get around." "I've a cousin who was in jail for nine months for stealing a roll of wire ." "My niece was in jail for a year and seven months for stealing a bottle of oil." "My uncle didn't steal anything at all and he's been in jail for six years." They dropped on their chaps exhausted, laughing wildly, slapping their thighs with their palms, cheerful and crazy. Used Book in Good Condition