The Almond Picker

I have been reading a lot of books set in Sicily recently, in preparation for my literary and artistic tour of Sicily later this year. Many have been on the sad side, describing poverty, the Mafia, and mass emigration from the island. But one recent read, although it began with a death, was quirky and at times very funny.

The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby is the story of Mennulara, a maid who once worked on an old estate picking almonds. She has just died, and the family who employed her are left in a mess, because Mennulara had gradually taken over control of their money and many aspects of their lives. As the gossipy villagers discuss her life and character, the true story of Mennulara gradually emerges. She was an intelligent, frustrated woman, who had faced trauma and yet had taken control of her life, learned new things and loved deeply.

The novel has a fabulous cast of greedy relatives, there are some eccentric village personalities – the doctor, the priest, the lawyer etc, and one gets a strong sense of the fictional village of Roccacolomba where the tale is set. Finding out who the almond picker really was, was like peeling layers off an onion. One came to really want to know the absent heroine of this book.

It was a tender, surprising and sensitive novel. I can recommend it. It was published in 2002 and translated into English in 2005.