Tell Me What You’re Reading No. 25: Camilla Calhoun - The White Moth
Camilla Calhoun discusses The White Moth, a beautifully told, moving and lovely memoir, both historical and very personal. Much of the story takes place on a 15th century farm villa in Tuscany during very challenging times in Italy, from the 1930s to the 1970s: wars, political upheaval, deprivation, fascism, occupation and change. The book is very much a tribute to Camilla’s rock of a mother-in-law, Alda Innocenti Rafanelli. The tribute is offered in the form of Camilla’s memoir of what was intended to be a sojourn in Italy to pursue her passion for writing, her romance with and marriage to Alda’s son, Aldo and eventually a story of three generations at the villa, Aldo’s grandparents, Elvira and Ugo, Aldo’s parents, Alda and Floro, and finally Aldo and Camiila, and also a number of beloved siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and children.
Camilla explores the relationships between the men and women of each of the generations - not always a perfect picture, as is often the case of course - and then, inevitably, this is Italy afterall, there is the food, the tomatoes, the olives, the grapes and the wine, the abundant fresh vegetables, the focaccia . . . and the meal preparation and the importance of having food on the table on time to feed hard working men. This is a story of an era, several eras. And beautifully told.
Camilla was introduced to me by my wife Carol who traveled with Camilla for an artist’s retreat in Scotland organized by Camilla’s cousin and our friend, painter and printmaker, Kate McGloughlin, who I talked with on the podcast last year.
The White Moth: The Story of Three Generations at a Tuscan Villa
Reviews The Hudson Independent | Bookishrita | Kirkus Reviews | Seattle Book Review | Radio Kingston |
A Town Called Olive: A Perspective on New York City's Water Supply, By Camilla Calhoun, June 1997 Catskill Archive
The Hours, by Michael Cunningham
Review The Guardian
Camilla’s Bookstores
The Village Bookstore of Pleasantville, New York
Scattered Books, Chappaqua, New York
Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington Connecticut
Canios Books, Sag Harbor, New York
The Golden Notebook, Woodstock New York
