Una Donna del suo Tempo

Romanzo bilingue basato sulla vita di Ippolita Ruffo di Maida 8° Duchessa di Bagnara

When Frances G. Fahy outlined her draft project for a
novel set in our town I was immediately interested not only
because of Maida’s central role in history but, above all,
because a real-fantasy work of this type could be a motivating
force for young people in search of their origins and curious
about the “Palace” life of our onetime rulers.
The story is intriguing, it evolves swiftly around the central
character, Ippolita. An innocent girl, a strong-willed woman,
a ruler among her people, with her people in her fight for the
renewal of her beloved Maida.
The story is romantic but harsh, tender but at the same
time dramatic. Cholera, earthquakes, hunger, misery, are the
background to relationships and violent passions that are only
hinted at.
The author calls her “a woman of her time” a woman
who struggles between her upbringing at Court and her desire
to face life outside the boundaries of Court formalities. This
novel makes us want to close our eyes and go back in time,
to walk through the narrow streets of the town and visit the
majestic castle, the churches, the convent. Seeing the nobility,
the prestige, the solemnity of Maida just a century and a half
ago through the pages of a novel cannot but rouse the interest
of the reader.