HORNBY, Simonetta Agnello 1945-

PERSONAL: Born 1945, in Palermo, Italy; immigrated to England, 1975. Education: Studied law in England.

ADDRESSES: Home—London, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, via Andegari 6, 20121 Milan, Italy.

CAREER: Lawyer and writer. Legal practice in Brixton, England; chairman, Court for Special Educational Needs.

WRITINGS:

FICTION

La Mennulara, Feltrinelli (Milan, Italy), 2002, translation by Alastair McEwen published as The Almond Picker, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Italian-born Simonetta Agnello Hornby has lived in London, England, for over three decades, completing her legal studies there and practicing as a lawyer with a specialty in children's law and minority issues. She published her first novel in 2002 in Italian. La Mennulara (which translates as "the woman who gathers almonds") was a bestseller in Italy, and in 2005 it was published in English translation as The Almond Picker. Set in the village of Roccacolomba, Sicily, during the fall of 1963, the novel recounts the tale of a servant of the wealthy Afallipe family. Nicknamed Mennulara, this servant has just died, and "her elusive past fuels this debut novel," according to a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. Mennulara worked for the influential family for over four decades and ultimately became the manager of its estates. Following her death, it is reveals that she has herself created a large fortune, and her rather eccentric will leaves strange conditions for inheritance and dispersal of the funds. The Afallipe family as well as the villagers of Roccacolomba and the local Mafia dons are equally dumfounded by this turn of events, wondering how it was possible for the maidservant to leave such an estate. Using flashbacks, Hornby takes the reader into Mennulara's mysterious character and past.

Reviewers were divided in their assessment of The Almond Picker. The Publishers Weekly contributor found the plot "both convoluted and curiously flat," while in Booklist GraceAnne A. DeCandido called it "at heart a potboiler" with a "dark and bitter Italian flavor." A critic for Kirkus Reviews also offered a mixed assessment, concluding that "Hornby's debut deals in types, cliché, and picturesque charm." Leann Restaino, writing in Library Journal, was less reserved in her praise for the novel, however, noting that Hornby "perfectly captures the ambiance of a tiny Sicilian town." Restaino also felt the book is "sure to be a popular read," a mix of magic realism as found in Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, of Mafia overtones from Mario Puzo's The Godfather, and of mysterious ciphers and secrets as in a book like Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2005, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of The Almond Picker, p. 819.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2005, review of The Almond Picker, p. 10.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Leann Restaino, review of The Almond Picker, p. 97.

Publishers Weekly, February 21, 2005, review of The Almond Picker, p. 158.

ONLINE

Bookslut, http://www.bookslut.com/ (May 27, 2005), review of The Almond Picker.

Festivaletteratura, http://www.festivaletteratura.it/ (May 27, 2005), "Simonetta Agnello Hornby."