This is a wonderful books that explores women in spirituality and their different areas of spirituality and religion--how they interpreted their Divine Spirit and relationship with him/her/it. I give this book to my spiritual friends--- and is also a GREAT book to read and reflect on in the BUBBLEBATH! If that sounds sacriligeous, I beg your pardon! If I spelled sacriligous wrong, I beg your pardon! It has the gamit of women through the ages: From Sappho (?) to women mystics, to Mother Theresa and Starhawk. Read it and get educated!

The world needs more wise women. I want all of these women to live in my house with me, and share all of their wisdom. You don't find better crones than these ones.

This a great book. I read it in a short time. It was like being there. I loved every moment of the book. Of course, I like to cook and I garden The recipes are worth a try. I felt like I was there, part of the book. A great read!

In her collection of 19th- and 20th-century British and American authors writing about Italy, Powers (The Brooklyn Reader, LJ 12/93) has chosen the somber, brooding poetry of the Romantics'Robert Browning, Byron, and Shelley'and the self-reflective contemporary verses of Joseph Brodsky, Richard Wilbur, and Charles Wright. She represents the American and British confrontation with Italian manners through two short stories (by Malamud and Wharton) and in excerpts from the fiction of Forster, James, and John Mortimer, among others. Conversely, Cahill (Wise Women, LJ 5/1/96), whose selections are exclusively by women, has included the ballads of Francesca Alexander and a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Focusing on the effect of Italy's sensual pageant on visitors' emotional and psychological makeup, she selects the fiction of Francine Prose, Elizabeth von Arnim, and Shirley Hazzard. Travel literature forms the largest segment of both anthologies. Both collections preface each entry with bio-bibliographical information, but Cahill adds, as epilog "for the literary traveler," a fascinating contemporary walking tour of the places mentioned in each selection. She also includes a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. These complementary anthologies are fine additions to the travel collections of public libraries and academic collections supporting the travel literature genre.'

This book is a treasure chest, a real find! Susan Cahill gives us here a fabulously artistic collection of woman's writings, all of which are centered around Italy and Italian experiences. The result is a resplendent patchwork of thoughts, ideas, articles, recipes, facts, stories... great writings, which explore various aspects of that paradise on earth and its inhabitants that we all know as Italy and the Italians. This book makes a great travel companion, whether you are traveling or not, or a great souvenir, in case you read it only once you are back. I highly recommend it not only for its literary side but because it very astutely portrays the multi-faceted, highly aesthetic "dolce vita" from numerous angles...