Sicilian Wife, The

Fiction. THE SICILIAN WIFE is both a literary novel and a mystery. Fulvia, the Mafia Princess, must be a dutiful daughter or the family will be dishonoured. Though she eventually escapes and makes a new life in Canada, she is betrayed and then her husband is murdered on the Sicilian coast. The Police Chief investigating the case is Marisa, who faces a station house of skeptical men as well as confronting Fulvia's uncle, the boss of bosses. Interweaving folk tales, classical allusions, and recent Italian history with the conventions of the detective story in this powerful new novel, Caterina Edwards uses the literary noir to question the very possibility of justice and free will.

"THE SICILIAN WIFE is both a political thriller and an absorbing psychological page-turner. It is set firmly in Sicilian noir and yet travels a Canadian immigrant's dark childhood past. This is a novel, like Sicily herself: full of marvelous contradictions and beauty. Of course, I raced along with the police investigation. I enjoyed each Sicilian proverb and delicacy. But in its final pages I'm sure I could taste the sting in the Sicilian dust."—the National Post's top 99 list of 2015 books

"The novel is ambitious, flitting between different timelines and allowing the story of Fulvia's past to inform and enrich de Luca's investigation ... These different threads are well-balanced, making THE SICILIAN WIFE a crime novel with a real depth of character and place."—Peter Oliva, Calgary

"THE SICILIAN WIFE is a clever interpretation of the Mafia noir genre, a great pageturner which manages to evoke a refreshingly authentic portrait of contemporary Sicily."—Nathan Ruthven, The National Post