The Blind Contessa's New Machine: A Novel - Carey Wallace

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The Blind Contessa's New Machine: A Novel - Carey Wallace

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Wallace's debut may be slender, but it is in no way slight. This shimmering historical, grounded faintly in fact, is elevated by deft touches of romantic mysticism. When Carolina, an indulged but independent early nineteenth century Italian contessa, realizes she is going blind, the only one who believes her is Turri, a local handyman and her childhood friend and confidante. After her marriage to a provincial aristocrat, her vision deteriorates rapidly. Desperate to hold onto the beauty of the physical world, she realizes that she can still see in her dreams and creates a vivid alternate reality. Meanwhile, Turri invents a machine that enables her to continue to communicate with him. As the “writing machine” binds them closer together, a bittersweet affair threatens to tear them apart forever. Writing with the assurance and the clarity of a seasoned author, Wallace crafts a seemingly simple, but ultimately iridescent, love story. –Margaret Flanagan

From Publishers Weekly
This charming and refreshingly modest debut hinges on a romantic triangle consisting of a blind contessa, her aristocratic husband, and an eccentric inventor. As Carolina Fantoni and Pietro prepare for their wedding in early 19th-century Italy, she tells her handsome, well-born fiancé that she is going blind. Like her family, he doesn't take her seriously, and only Turri, Carolina's friend and married neighbor, believes her. While Pietro engages in less than lofty pursuits, Turri and Carolina continue to meet on Carolina's father's property, and Carolina's creeping blindness inspires Turri to invent a machine she can use to write messages. His invention—a typewriter—sparks an affair that could have far-reaching consequences for them both. Wallace has a smooth style and a sure hand in combining near tragedy with whimsy, whether she's detailing Carolina and Pietro's social circle, the state of scientific knowledge, or the progression of Carolina's blindness. Secondary characters, including Carolina's not-so loyal servant girl, Liza, are sketched with hints of a darker, deeper psychology. Despite its relative brevity, this is a work of surprising insight, humor, and heart. (July)