Threads of Sicily: The Roots Behind Becoming Mariella
by Janet Constantino
When a writer friend asked me, “If you could write about anything you wanted, what would that be?” I immediately thought of Sicily, where half my family was born, where my father partially grew up, and where traditions rooted deeply in family and culture and family have shaped lives, especially the lives of women.
From this question sprang the idea of Becoming Mariella, a story about a young Sicilian woman striving to break free from her mother’s control and the societal expectations that cast women primarily as homemakers, mothers, and silent figures.
My grandmother, Giuseppina, was brought to this country around the time of WWI, by her husband, with two small sons, and pregnant with my father, and within three years her husband died, and one of my uncles took the family back to Sicily, where at least my grandmother had family and community. Then after a few years my uncle brought the family back to the States, to San Jose California where some of Giuseppina’s family owned a grocery store, and where there was a small, close community of Sicilian/Americans.
My grandmother was happy enough there, and then for some reason my uncle bought her a house in the suburbs–because that’s where he wanted to live– away from anyone she knew, where no one spoke Italian, let alone Sicilian. And where she lived out her life, agoraphobic, afraid to leave her own yard, and except for one of my uncles who lived with her, lonely and isolated.
We lived down the street from her, and I spent two days a week “helping” my grandmother. Really, I think it was keeping her company, and I found her unbearably boring. Except every now and then a mischievous twinkle would come into her eye, and she’d offer me a drop of some Italian liquor. Very exciting for an adolescent.
My grandmother was the best cook I’ve ever known, and I learned about food and cooking from watching and helping her, and the parts about food in the book are a tribute to her. She spent her life cooking and cleaning house. Only in the last few years have I understood what a choiceless existence she must have lived, and have imagined, with an aching heart, the depression and loneliness she must have endured.
Having choice, and being able to carve one’s path is paramount, a deeply held value, for me, both as an individual woman, and as a psychotherapist. The courage of some of my clients, women and men, who have dared to follow their own paths along with my challenge to steer my own path were also inspirations. But also, when I was 22, (the same age as Mariella in the novel) I stayed with my Sicilian relatives, one of whom was a slightly younger cousin named Mariella. And, also like Mariella, she was small in stature, had short, curly dark hair, and delicate features.
My own mother, who was Irish/American, never lived out her potential, and she was somewhat the model for Mamma in the book. Envious, loving as best she could be, overbearing, and dramatic.
In crafting Mariella’s story, I immersed myself in Sicilian history, particularly the Norman Conquest of Sicily from 999 through 1194 and the Allied Occupation during WWII’s Operation Husky. These historical elements–such as Mariella’s and Nonna’s green eyes, a “gift from the Normans”–alongside details of Sicilian customs, architecture, and traditional dishes, brought authenticity to the novel.
My commitment to thorough research and observation has always been one of my strong suits and informed the origins of my writing journey. In high school, one of my beloved teachers, Mr. Bloom, encouraged me to hone my observations into cohesive scenes, telling me I had the makings of a writer. His encouragement helped me see a potential within myself that I hadn’t yet recognized, igniting a passion for writing that would ultimately shape the creation of Becoming Mariella.
That’s why Becoming Mariella is more than just a novel for me. It’s a tribute to the women of my family and to anyone who has sought a life defined by choice, autonomy, and passion. The writing has been a process of self-discovery, an homage to my roots, and a commitment to the values I hold dear.
—
Janet Constantino is a former a competitive Latin Ballroom dancer and journalist, and has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1983. In 2015, she earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University, and in 2021, she won second place in the MFK Fisher Last House writing contest. A practicing Buddhist, Janet has a grown son and twin granddaughters. She and her husband of twenty-five years live in the beautiful city of Sonoma, California, with their beloved Labradoodle and tuxedo cat.
For fans of Elena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults and Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation comes a contemporary coming-of-age tale about a young Italian immigrant’s desperate journey to find her personal freedom.
It’s unprecedented, even in the twenty-first century, for a young Sicilian woman to defy the centuries-old mandate, “Family is everything!”—but twenty-two-year-old Mariella Russo is desperate to escape Sicily. She’s being relentlessly coerced into an engagement with her wealthy college sweetheart—a young man from a prominent, powerful family—by her envious and erratic mother, who hopes the match will increase her own ignominious social status. Suddenly, Mariella’s lifelong home has become a claustrophobic island. In a bid for independence and an attempt to escape entrapment, she flees to San Francisco.
But Mariella’s bête noire—entrapment—follows her to San Francisco, where everyone wants more from her than she wants to give. Her American roommate, Leslie, turns out to be a gay man rather than the woman she imagined; her employer/lover is pressuring her to live with him; and her neurotic mother is haunting her, wreaking havoc and embarrassment. An urgent return trip to Sicily puts Mariella to the ultimate challenge: will she submit to tradition, or choose a life she wants for herself?
BUY HERE
Category: On Writing
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
