CASA NOSTRA: A Home In Sicily

By Caroline Seller Manzo

Book Specs:

ISBN: 978-0-06-118921-0; ISBN-10: 0-06-118921-9

Published by HC, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

On sale in major bookstores and online retailers: 6/26/07

USA $25.95; CANADA $32.95

Keynote:

Join Caroline Seller Manzo and her family at their villa, Santa Maria—and enter the extraordinary world and culture of western Sicily, where the pivotal issue of the day is always the dinner menu, the exhausting preparation of a year’s supply of tomato sauce is a hallowed occasion, and every gathering of friends and family is an excuse for a party to celebrate life.

About the Book:

At a mid-seventies Halloween party in London, Caroline Seller stumbled across a man in a lion mask. Although she spoke little Italian and he practically no English, both were undeniably smitten. After only a few more meetings, Caroline was invited to stay with Marcello’s family in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, where she was introduced to the eccentric Manzo clan—including Marcello’s larger than-life mother Maria—who lived in a magnificent but crumbling villa, Santa Maria.

Soon afterwards Caroline and Marcello married, embarked on an expatriate life together around the world and started their own family, but Santa Maria was never far from their thoughts. After much debate over the fate of the deteriorating villa, Marcello and his brothers united to save it. Determined in their mission—but not entirely prepared for what they were getting into!—Marcello and Caroline embarked on a restoration process full of disconcerting setbacks, demoralizing mishaps and ultimately breathtaking results.

Through amusing anecdotes, stunning photography, and inspired observations of Sicilian culture, Casa Nostra shows not only the renovation of the villa, but also the unique beauty and history of western Sicily and its people as seen through the eyes of Caroline Seller Manzo—an outsider who is often surprised, and always delighted, by her family and adopted hometown.

About the Author:

Caroline Seller Manzo was born in London but was brought up in Fiji and has lived in many different countries around the world. She read classics at Oxford and now works as a trainer in communications. She and Marcello have two daughters and divide their time between London, Sicily and Milan.