by Patricia Schonstein
Primo Verona and his wife, Beatrice, are lifelong friends with Pasquale Benvenuto, a delicatessen owner who is Beatrice's employer. But when Beatrice leaves Primo after 20 years of marriage and moves in with Pasquale, Primo, a soothsayer, practices manipulative magic—causing his rival's renowned breads to emerge from the oven blue and bitter. This be witching tale of life among post apartheid South Africa's Italian-Jewish community encompasses an astonishing range of human—and divine—experience. Lush descriptions of daily life intermingle with vivid passages about the Holocaust and the war in Angola. It's nothing short of heavenly.
