The art history based introduction to the book I have just read: Florence- Ordeal by Water. Kathrine Kressmann Taylor, was written by Vanessa Nicolson and was very informative.
The colophon gave further details of both writers and said that Vanessa Nicolson lived in Sissinghurst and London. At that point I suddenly thought oh right, those Nicolsons. Looking her up I found that she is indeed a granddaughter of Vita Sackville-West. Her mother was Italian and Vanessa grew up in Florence and England.
As well as being an art historian, she is also a novelist and to keep in the Florentine mood, I have just read her book: Angels of mud.
Through reading both these books I have become familiar with several words meaning mud! Poltiglia means slushy mud, Melma is mire or ooze but the most commonly used word is fango. Fango seems simply to mean mud, in all its forms. And fango there was a plenty after the 1966 flood of Florence when the Arno burst its banks. (I have written about ‘Florence. Ordeal by Water’ as a Bookends article. It will appear in the Airing Cupboard in a few weeks time.)
Vanessa Nicolson sets her story in London in the first half of the 20th century, giving it roots in the Italian community in Clerkenwell. There is much social history here, particularly focusing on the role of women. Her main characters are female and for one circumstantial reason or another, they are all only children. It is Cara, who in the 1960s, wants to travel and ends up in Florence. The flood happens whilst she is there (1966) and she becomes part of what became known as ‘the Mud Angels,’ large groups of students and young people who arrived in the city desperate to help.
By the time the story reaches the 1950s and 60s, they are then times I remember. Most women were housewives, very few people went to university, the term gap year had not been invented and homosexuality was still illegal.
This is well constructed and an enjoyable read. It might encourage me to find out what else she has written.