Cecilia, Linda Ferri/rs"s latest novel, retells the myth of Saint Cecilia, the Roman nobleman.rs"s daughter who would become the patron saint of music and a Christian martyr. In Ms. Ferri rs"s novel, however, it is not so much music that occupies her time as writing; the novel loosely takes the form of a diary without dates, private thoughts and observations that Cecilia records on scrolls of papyrus as we follow her spiritual growth from precocious adolescent to full-blown Christian martyr.
Linda Ferri is the author of the novel Enchantments, a collection of short stories, and numerous books for children. She co-wrote the films: The Sonmrs"s Room (Palme d'rs"or 2001, Cannes); directed by Nanni Moretti, The Life I Want and Light of My Eyes directed by Giuseppe Piccioni; and Along the Ridge by Kim Rossi Stuart. She lives in Rome.
Linda Ferri uses the story of Saint Cecilia of Rome to portray the universality — across centuries, religions, and cultures T— of the search for meaning in life. In her compelling novel, Cecilia, Ferri alters the accepted facts of Ceciliam’s life — Christian parents, pagan husband converted by her devotion g— and isolates her Cecilia within [...]
ENCHANTMENTS By Linda Ferri. Translated by John Casey with Maria Sanminiatelli. 131 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $18.95. IT must be evidence of artful writing that a novel told from a child's point of view about a privileged upbringing in Paris and Tuscany -- villas with names, horseback riding, nannies called Dame Dame, fathers who have tenant farmers -- ...
