The Lady of the Wheel

The Lady of the Wheel (La Ruotaia) is a 2012 historical fiction novel^[1] by Sicilian American author Angelo F. Coniglio. The book follows the life of a girl who was abandoned as an infant, with the major themes of the book including poverty, exploitation and family values.^[2][3][4][5] Coniglio's work has been compared to the verismo (realism) of Sicilian author Giovanni Verga.^[6][7]

Plot summary

A mother abandons an infant girl, placing her inside a 'foundling wheel' to be cared for in a foundling home, and the woman's husband gives up a young son as a carusu, a virtual slave in a sulfur mine; both actions intended to help the remaining family to survive in poverty-stricken Racalmuto, in late-1800s Sicily. It was common for families to give up their boys at the age of five as carusi, selling them to the mining company for life for a small price, and the parents treat it matter-of-factly as a regrettable but unavoidable decision. The plot follows the girl's life as a foundling, and her brother's labors in the mine, working ten-hour days in hellish conditions, and their interactions with family and co-workers. As plot devices, the author includes examples of Napoleon-inspired recording of civil documents, and describes the Sicilian conventions for selecting the given names of a family's children.

Characters

• Rosa Esposto - the protagonist, an abandoned child
• Maria Rizzo - Rosa's mother
• Antonino 'Nino' Alessi- Rosa's father, a pick-man in a sulfur mine
• Anna di Marco - 'la Ruotaia', the receiver of abandoned infants left in the town's 'foundling wheel'
• Salvatore 'Totò' Alessi - Rosa's eldest brother, a "carusu" or mine-boy in a sulfur mine
• Gaetano 'Tanuzzu' Alessi - another brother of Rosa's
• Pietro 'Petruzzu' Castiglione - the son of the mayor of Racalmuto

References

External links

• Forever Young magazine article
• Dr. Kenneth Scambray's review of The Lady of the Wheel.