Chapters (47)
- 1. Cover Page
- 2. Title Page
- 4. Author’s Note
- 5. Dedication
- 7. Prologue
- 8. Part One: Umbertina 1860 - 1940
- 9. Chapter One
- 10. Chapter Two
- 11. Chapter Three
- 12. Chapter Four
- 13. Chapter Five
- 14. Chapter Six
- 15. Chapter Seven
- 16. Chapter Eight
- 17. Chapter Nine
- 18. Chapter Ten
- 19. Part Two: Marguerite 1927 – 1973
- 20. Chapter Eleven
- 21. Chapter Twelve
- 22. Chapter Thirteen
- 23. Chapter Fourteen
- 24. Chapter Fifteen
- 25. Chapter Sixteen
- 26. Chapter Seventeen
- 27. Chapter Eighteen
- 28. Chapter Nineteen
- 29. Chapter Twenty
- 30. Chapter Twenty-One
- 31. Chapter Twenty-Two
- 32. Chapter Twenty-Three
- 33. Part Three: Tina 1950 –
- 34. Chapter Twenty-Four
- 35. Chapter Twenty-Five
- 36. Chapter Twenty-Six
- 37. Chapter Twenty-Seven
- 38. Chapter Twenty-Eight
- 39. Chapter Twenty-Nine
- 40. Chapter Thirty
- 41. Chapter Thirty-One
- 42. Chapter Thirty-Two
- 43. Chapter Thirty-Three
- 44. Chapter Thirty-Four
- 45. Chapter Thirty-Five
- 46. Afterword
- 48. About the Author
- 49. About the Feminist Press
- 50. Also Available from the Feminist Press
Near the entrance to the village was a fountain with a spigot of running water. “Is it for drinking?” Tina asked a girl, who nodded and smiled.
Tina bent her head to the spigot to drink, but the water slurped all over her face and even cupping her hands and trying to drink from them was no more successful. She felt conspicuous. The girl, the boys around the car, the shy man in the doorway of his bar, and some others now standing in the road were all watching her.
Her eyes filled with tears that ran down her cheeks, merging with the water on her face. She had wanted to come to Castagna, stand on the same ground and breathe the same air as old Umbertina, who had made a success of her life and had been a strong woman. Some voice was always in her head saying, If only I could be Umbertina, I’d be all right; everything would go together; I’d know my place. Why couldn’t she take a road, as Umbertina had, and follow it, not looking back? What was she doing there with Ferruccio anyway? Where was her place in the world?
It was time to leave.
She went back to the car, wiping her face. “I can’t bear it,” she said fiercely. “Give them something—give them the candies!”
The trip to Calabria had come to an end. And as she got into the car Tina knew that though she had physically located the where of Umbertina, the secret of why she was lost and Umbertina directed still eluded her.
42. Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-two
In Rome Tina found a letter from Weezy:
Dear Tee,
I’m betting you’re not staying in Rome with papà, but moving on in your own direction.
So this is to say good-bye, because I won’t see you before you leave for the States. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but when I do get to Rome it will only be to pass through, on my way to Bologna. That’s where my friends and I will be organizing.
Spain was great; Morocco is, too. I’m not much of a letter writer—I want us to meet again, face to face.
In the meantime I hope you find something besides Dante in your life. I’m not saying we should all be Christs or Castros, but there should be something else, here and now, that you care about. We’re all in this together.
Your way or mine, all knowledge is just a search for more wonder. Keep searching!
Love ’n kisses,
Weezy