This memoir celebrates the Sicilian life in America, while providing a sociological portrait of the immigrant experience in the US. The author reminisces about his experience as a fledgeling writer trying to escape from the restrictive Italian American culture in which he grew up.

Unlike other young women of her generation, who were bred up from childhood to sit behind tea-tables and say the right things to tea-drinkers, Sylvia Marshall the twig of this novel was reared to think for herself and to trust her own instincts and experience. This, coupled with her passionate temperament, makes Sylvia a compelling figure as she resists efforts to mold her with every rebellious fiber of her independent nature.
Sylvia's home is a Montessori home, where everyone takes part in household tasks, and the children learn by being included in adult activities. Without making a...

1930. American novelist and juvenile writer, Canfield begins The Deepening Stream: When people talked about things they could remember Matey always wondered which kind of remembering they meant-the kind that was just a sort of knowing how something in the past had happened or the other kind when suddenly everything seemed to be happening all over again. Why did time fade out some memories so that they didn't seem any more real than a story in a book? And why were others, whether you liked it or not, a living part of you at any moment when they come into your head? These were among the many...