I have just published a new book about living in Sicily. It includes all the usual adventures, among them the time we were in an earthquake, some thoughts on the Sicilian language and whether it will survive, and a debate on the fact that in Sicily you can buy really, I mean really really large…
Category: Books
Book reviews and new publications
Christmas stocking filler: A simple guide to classic Sicilian card games
What kind of Christmas would it be for a Sicilian family without playing riotous card games amid a heap of pistachio nut shells? Join in the tradition this year with some bargain stocking-filler gifts. The bestselling pocket edition This book gives very clear instructions for twelve Sicilian card games, with photographic illustrations. It is the…
My new book out now – THE GODMOTHER
THE GODMOTHER THE SICILIAN HOUSEWIFE DIARIES Volume 1 The journal of an English woman handling parenthood, the Mafia and a Sicilian mother-in-law, all at once. (And yes, that is myself on the cover.) ‘The Godmother’, the first book in the series, introduces the formidable mother-in-law and godmother to seven children who dominates family life. To…
Last minute Christmas Shopping?
I always leave Christmas shopping till the last minute. When I am in Sicily, it’s because the cafes subversively waft smells out to distract everyone into eating this lot: When I am in England, it’s because of this: In the end, I always resort to last-minute shopping online. So if you’re in the same boat,…
Who’s reading my novel?
THE DANGEROUSLY TRUTHFUL DIARY OF A SICILIAN HOUSEWIFE by Veronica Di Grigoli When career-girl Veronica flies to Sicily for a friend’s wedding, she accidentally falls in love with one of the groom’s three-hundred cousins. A year later she has given up her job, house and friends, and is planning her own wedding with her Latin…
What inspired my crime novel FRIENDS WITH SECRETS?
When I had just graduated and worked in London as a teacher of English as a foreign language, I met so many extraordinary characters from all around the world that I had enough inspiration to write about twenty novels. The only one I have actually written is a crime thriller called Friends with Secrets. …
Sicilian Christmas Gift Ideas
That festive time of year is approaching, when Sicilians gather for intimate family dinners of 25 to 40 people, eat more than their body weight in food, and shout to relatives at the opposite end of the table about how good the fourth pasta course tastes. It’s also, of course, the time when we…
Caption Competition – The Winners!
Thank you to everyone who entered the caption competition! I enjoyed all your entries and would have loved to give a prize to everyone. I found it hard to choose a winner. Apparently I do not have a Simon Cowell streak in me. But in the end I narrowed it down to two winners. The…
Why were Ten Percent of Sicilian Babies Abandoned?
I was excited last month to get a pressie from one of the leading experts in Sicilian genealogy. A novella, set in olden-days Sicily. The author, Angelo Coniglio, usually helps people people in America trace their Sicilian roots, and turn up a thousand or so relatives who all want to feed them more than their…
Ten ways to Protect against the Evil Eye – Read more in my new book
Do you have a son who used to be a lovely little child, but suddenly turned into a vile, stroppy teenager? In Brazil, that would get you worried that someone has cast the evil eye on him. Does your car or office equipment perplexingly need endless costly repairs? That would get an Indian sure the…
Caption Competition! Win a Free Book!!!
I have been delighted with all the enthusiastic feedback you lot have been giving me about my latest book. Do you want to know what my mother said about it? “That’s a very unflattering photo of you on the back cover.” “What do you mean, unflattering?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “It makes you look…
Book Review: The Dangerously Truthful Diary of A Sicilian Housewife
Read my interview with Australian journalist Rochelle Del Borello I have been following Veronica Di Grigoli’s blog for a few years now, laughing along at the Sicilian Housewife’s struggles and humorous confusion associated with day-to-day life in Sicily as an expat. Now the blog has become a wonderfully polished and hilarious laugh-out-loud-belly-laughing-thigh-slapping book and I cannot…
Comedy novel ‘The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife’ gets rave reviews
“Veronica Di Grigoli’s book The Dangerously truthful diary of a Sicilian Housewife takes us on her own personal odyssey, navigating through many monstrosities, perils and everyday adventures along the way. The diary is filled with biting wit, an astute knack for observation and a powerful sense of determination which makes it a joy…
A Rough Start for the Rough Guide to Sicily
So, what’s it like to earn your living by going on holiday? Jules Brown, author of The Rough Guide to Sicily, describes his very first hilarious trip to Sicily especially for my blog. He has written stacks of travel guides, but Sicily was his first and, he says, still his favourite – despite how…
Q: Who promoted Italian food before Jamie Oliver? A: Renato Guttuso!
We are all used to buying imported and exotic foods in our local supermarket these days, and seeing Jamie Oliver on TV wagging spaghetti about and telling us to grow “some lavly fresh basil” on our windowsills. Jamie has become the global marketing manager for Italian food these days. But how would you market…
A new book: SICILIAN CARD GAMES an easy-to-follow guide
‘SICILIAN CARD GAMES an easy-to-follow guide’ gives very clear instructions for twelve Sicilian card games, with photographic illustrations. It is the only book of Sicilian card games in print worldwide. Sicily has its own unique deck of playing cards, and lots of games exclusive to the island. Card games are an indispensable part of the…
Istanbul, the “Prostitute” City
The Turks say that Istanbul is like a prostitute – beautiful, but dangerous. I decided to portray the intensely stimulating mix of beauty and danger, which so characterises Istanbul, in my novel “Evil Eye.” The day-dreamy heroine, Celeste, is dragged into a mysterious adventure of threats, violence and narrow escapes which makes its way though…
How to Protect yourself against the Evil Eye
I was collecting my son from school a few weeks ago and noticed two bags of salt lying on the ground, split open with salt scattered all over the place. “Oh dear, someone dropped a bit of their shopping,” I commented to a couple of mothers. “No, they didn’t,” said one of them. They laughed,…
The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife 