Keeping House

Clara Sereni is an award-winning Italian writer residing in Perugia, Italy. She is the author of several novels and a collection of short stories. Giovanna Miceli Jeffries teaches Italian at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is the author of Letteratura e Lavoro nella narrativa di Italo Svevo and editor of Feminine Feminists: Cultural Practices in Italy. Susan Briziarelli is Associate Professor of Italian at the University of San Diego. She is the author of Enrico Annibale Butti: The Case of the Minor Writer.

• Preface Acknowledgments Translators’ Note Introduction 1 For a Baby 2 Appetizers 3 First Courses 4 Second Courses 5 Eggs 6 Vegetables 7 Sweets 8 Preserving Notes Works Cited

a charming and poignant novel … it represented an innovative Italian foray into a diverse genre of contemporary literature that was a cook book (and not only), a novel (and not only), as well as a memoir (and not only) … The novel works because it engages us thoroughly; it is food for thought and food for nourishment. Congratulations to the translators … Readers will not regret accepting their invitation 'to meditate on the various courses and to savour them as well.'" — Quaderni D'Italianistica"[Sereni's] ferocious refusal of the overbearing family and the traditional couple is softened by her loving understanding of the different roles in life and culinary rituals. They are all parts of an identity that manifests itself in her work and friendships, in her mosaic-style life, where eggplants, cloves, beans, meatballs, and 'crostini' can become ingredients of creativity." — Indice"I like the various ways in which food affects the development of a young woman, whose loss of her biological mother remains an untapped yearning in this fictionalized autobiography. The traditional province of women, the kitchen, Sereni suggests, is no mere defense against the world." — Mary Jo Bona, editor of The Voices We Carry: Recent Italian/American Women's Fiction, Second Edition"Over 100 recipes guide and shape Sereni's autobiographical novel of self-discovery … foodies will relish learning how to make Arugula Spread, Vitello Tonnato (Veal with Tuna) and Zabaione Ice Cream." — Publishers Weekly