EM - June/July 2012 - (Page 35)

June/July 2012 www.esb.ie/em Life Safety Performance Awards ESB Energy International, page 29 Athletics Club Update Health & Habitat, page 31. 35 Image in-box 2 1 a selection of your photography 3 4 6 8 7 5 1 Stick Insect, The Badlands National Reserve, South Dakota by Michael Hughes 2 Early morning by the River Nore by Veronica O’Dwyer 3 Silver Strand, Co. Mayo by Phil O’Flaherty 4 Puffin in flight by Kevin Grace. 5 Coast Road, The Burren by Maria Bennett. 6 Taking a rest by Eamon Robertson 7 Green Shoots on River Lee, by Seamus Murphy 8 Sunrise over Poolbeg lighthouse by Vinny McCann. By Kathleen Thorne book review Accabadora By Michela Murgia Translated from Italian by Silvester Mazzarella Price €13.20 Maria Listru, born in Sardinia in modern times, is the daughter of Anna Teresa Listru, who already has three daughters and is not happy with the arrival of another. Bonaria Urrai is a woman of some note and importance in the area because she is the local Accabadora, which means she assists the dying in their passage towards death. Bonaria is aware of Anna Teresa’s problems and so decides to adopt little Maria when she is six years old. Maria then becomes the soul-child of Bonaria, who is a gaunt, elderly woman living alone. She is a seamstress and is relatively wealthy. She is alone because the man she was to have married never returned from the war. Maria is happy with Bonaria. Even though Maria is aware of Bonaria’s frequent absence from the house, she does not fully understand the significance of this until a local young man dies and his brother tells her of Bonaria’s role in the death. Maria has a blazing row with Bonaria. She leaves home and goes to work as a nanny for a wealthy family in Turin, caring for their two children. Circumstances contrive to force her out of the house just as a letter arrives from her sister telling her that Bonaria is seriously ill. She returns home to nurse her adopted mother. Bonaria lingers between life and death for a long time. During this time Maria comes to understand much about Bonaria and the story comes full circle. Accabadora is a tale of rural life in Sardinia where customs and superstitions have remain unchanged for generations. In this, it is reminiscent of practices in many rural regions internationally. It reads fluidly and speaks elo- quently of hurt, compassion and the complexities of human relation. n http://www.esb.ie/em

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - June/July 2012

EM - June/July 2012
News
Services & Electric Ireland
ESB Networks Ltd
ESB Energy International
Health & Habitat
Life

EM - June/July 2012