Born in Italy to a French mother and an Italian father, established in Quebec for 17 years, Camilla Sironi knows Sardinia well, having gone there often when she was little. It therefore seems natural that she set her sights on this enchanting Mediterranean setting to develop two female characters with diametrically opposed personalities in The women of woodhis second novel.
“At the beginning, it was not to be Sardinia, but Maine, reveals the novelist, joined in Italy by videoconference. I had already written a hundred pages, I was very advanced. Maine is a beautiful place, but it often rains. I think I need the sun to write, so I went back to a place that is really dear to me and that became a character in The women of wood. It had been the same with the first novel; when I write in a place that I love, that I know, it allows me to decompartmentalize something else. »
Like Yet here I am (2020), her first novel, where a middle-aged Quebec writer established in Provence traveled to northern Italy to look for her son there, The women of wood stages characters transplanted into a universe where they look like fish out of the bowl.
“It’s not really wanted, but I find myself a little bit in all the characters and all the places. I couldn’t write about a place I don’t know. For me, places become an interlocutor. In the first novel, the Quebec writer who decided to live in a place that I know well, it may be me in a few years. Her son, whom she lost track of fifteen years ago, lives in Italy, on Lake Maggiore, where I am at the moment. In The women of wood, I sprinkle myself a little bit in each character. »
Summit meeting
Stuck for too long in a failing marriage, the affable Dominique, Quebecer, fifty-year-old, retired teacher, treats herself, for an indefinite time, to a vacation in Sardinia. Living alone since the death of her father, the fierce Anna, Italian, forties, sculptor more and more in sight, will be forced to accommodate Dominique in the large family house, located on a rocky promontory overlooking San Pietro Island. For the first few days, the cohabitation will not be the most harmonious for these two women, who each drag a heavy luggage and whom the islanders observe with an inquisitive eye.
“It’s so interesting to write about mature women. I have the impression that there is a sort of acceptance of who we are, that we have less desire to compromise in certain respects, that we are a little more in “I assume myself”. At 20, you want to belong, you’re looking for your crowdwe want fitter, to be accepted; we are anything but who we are. Writing from the point of view of a 40-year-old, 50-year-old woman—I’m 40 this year—allows me to be in a state where I can get rid of clothes that aren’t the mine and try to find some that would belong to me, always in a movement of reconquest of oneself, which is important to me. »
In the same breath, the novelist continues: “At the beginning, there were two themes. First of all, I wanted to talk about friendship, the genesis of a deep, life-saving friendship, and the creation of a space of freedom, of mutual trust, allowing both of them to quite simply settle down. As I wrote, I realized that friendship was “just” the playground to talk about what it’s like to be able to freely become who you are. I find it more interesting, at a “certain age”, when you have already tested different masks, to reach the point where you discover the beauty of who you are. »
Whether The women of wood focuses on the slow friendship that develops between Anna and Dominique, Camilla Sironi borrows the point of view of different characters, including that of Georges, a Senegalese immigrant in love with Anna, and Bastien, her 12-year-old son. It is even through that of Bastien’s dog, Lion, that we will be told of a key moment in the life of the teenager: “I had a lot of fun doing that! In this way, each character gradually reveals itself, thus retaining its mysteries longer and appearing ever more complex.
“It was important to me that everyone had their moment of glory. I found it fair to give the floor to each of them, including the dog, perhaps in a desire to better explain certain things. For example, for Bastien, I wanted him to be able to express his loneliness both as a teenager and as an immigrant from another language, from another culture. With Georges, I could approach the dissolution of a couple model where the woman is freer. »
love of words
Imbued with great sensuality, The women of wood nevertheless has its share of comical scenes, in particular thanks to the character of Dominique, whose enthusiasm and clumsiness make this fifty-year-old with tawny hair irresistible in the eyes of the villagers. In some passages, one would think that the author is having fun borrowing from the codes of sentimental comedy.
“There is one film in particular that inspired me, Bread, tulips and comedy. For me, the character of the woman who arrives in Venice with her curious gaze and her desire to settle there is Dominique. For the cinematographic moments, I give great credit to the editor Lison Lescarbeau, who wanted more cinema, who suggested that I watch such and such a film. At first, I was more into poetry, the cinematographic side came later. The novel took me seven months to write and just as much time to revise it. »
In addition to Silvio Soldini’s film, the novelist cites among her inspirations The art of joy, by Goliarda Sapienza: “It’s a book that I read when I was young and that greatly influenced me in its ability to use words that don’t necessarily belong, in the freedom of his language, in this love for the matter of words. »
This could explain the meticulousness she shows in the many evocative descriptions of colors, scents, sounds, atmospheres, and in the choice of words she borrows in order to offer vibrant impressionist paintings and not to pour into the highly touted postcard from a beloved corner of the country.
“I really like to write. I’ve been writing for a long time and growing up I used to write a little bit to show off, to try things out, but I think for the past few years I’ve freed myself from the desire to please and write for the pleasure of description . I feel like words are also energy. When you describe a place, you have the impression of being there, and perhaps that puts you in a certain disposition to receive content. Behind my approach, there is clearly a desire to help women, a desire to do good with this book,” concludes Camilla Sironi.