PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
The Italian-Jewish writer, journalist, artist and doctor Carlo Levi was born in Turin in 1902 where he practised medicine until 1930. In 1935 he was exiled to the province of Lucania because of his antifascist activities. Levi lived in France between 1939 and 1941 and his documentary novel, CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI, was an international success. Levi also wrote non-fiction and worked as an editor, journalist and painter. He was elected to the Senate in 1963, and served until his death in 1975.
Winner of the Via Reggio and Mondadori prizes in Italy, this is an artistic achievement, exceptional in the evocative quality of its prose. This is a picture of the desolate reaches of Lucania, to which the author, painter and political prisoner, was sent for three years. As a former doctor, Don Carlo earned the affection of the sick peasants whom he cared for. This is a picture of a lost land, victim of feudal carryovers. Here was the sameness of the days, the futile endurance, and at the close, the ban against Don Carlo's practising, which led the author to secret measures in order to help the people... One may question an American audience for this, but there is charm and compassion here- for the perceptive reader. (Kirkus Reviews)
