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Sarah Penner Biography

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“For all the time I’d spent reviewing Holmes’s log on my phone in recent days, it held significantly more meaning now, here in my hands. When I’d first held this journal, I’d chalked Holmes up to little more than another unfortunate drowned sailor. And perhaps even a criminal. But now, I knew he was a man who’d fallen in love with a witch of the sea. A man who’d been determined to return to her.”

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Book:The Amalfi Curse
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“The secret-- his actual infidelity-- was bad enough. But in this exact moment, the raw, ugly questions about *her*, and the extent of their relationship, ...Just last night, we'd made love. How dare he bring that woman's ghost to our bed, the sacred place where we'd been trying to conceive a child. My shoulders shook, my hands trembled. "All these nights trying for a baby. Were you thinking of her, instead of--”

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“Can confirm, I said, Italian men make the best lovers. Details, girl, she replied, with a flame emoji. Walking to the kitchen for coffee, I eyed the countertop and flushed; last night, Enzo and I had frantically pushed everything one side. I could make out the outline of a handprint, still visible on the glossy marble countertop. Then I glanced out at the terrace, the railing bright white in the morning sun, remembering how I'd clutched it last night, Enzo's hot breath on the back of my neck. He's very adventurous, I texted back. If there's a solid surface in this place, I think we christened it. Three little dots as Mal typed her reply. That's my kind of sex. I laughed. Before last night, I'd never had sex on a kitchen counter or a terrace partially within view of an entire village. And yet, I'd loved every second of it. I hadn't been worried about breaking rules or being seen. I craved him so bad--- even now, making coffee in the kitchen--- that I thought I might ignite. I think it's my kind of sex now, too, I replied.”

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Book:The Amalfi Curse
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“Ahead, peeking out from the water, something glistened, the color of silver. Mari knew just what it was. She smacked the oars several times against the water, then—- to amuse the girls—- she feigned surprise as several dolphins appeared either side of the gozzo. They cried in delight as the dolphins surfaced and blew their breath into the air, showering them all with mist. Even Mari laughed; she knew this pod well. They liked to follow the boat a long ways, and she always felt a sense of safety with them so close. When she and Sofia were young, they would lie back and let their hair tumble over the gozzo’s edge. The flash of red against blue caught the dolphins’ attention, and they would nose and nudge their way through the thick masses of hair, playing with it like they might strands of seaweed. Times like that, the sea was not so loathsome.”

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Book:The Amalfi Curse
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“REGISTRO DEGLI INCANTESIMI MARINI REGISTER OF INCANTATIONS PRACTICED BY THE STREGHE, OR SEA WITCHES, OF AMALFI incantesimo di riflusso An incantation to urge water away (ebb). Attrezzo:a belemnite fossil. incantesimo di flusso An incantation to draw water forth (flow). Attrezzo: a mother-of-pearl shell. incantesimo divinatorio An incantation to discern the location of items in the water. Attrezzo: a strand of six sea-derived hagstones. incantesimo raffreddare An incantation to lower the temperature of the water via a cold-water column. Attrezzo: a dried Chondrichthyes eggsack, or "mermaid's purse." incantesimo dell'elemento An incantation to alter the composition of the water. Attrezzo: a fossilized sawfish snout, or "mermaid's comb." incantesimo vorticeAn incantation to conjure a maelstrom or whirlpool. No attrezzo required. vortice centuriaria An incantation to conjure a powerful maelstrom or whirlpool enduring for one hundred years. No attrezzo required, but the strega must remove her protective cimaruta necklace to perform this incantation.”

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Book:The Amalfi Curse
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“As they entered the cave’s opening, the two young girls gasped in unison: the water inside was a radiant sapphire color. Once she had the gozzo situated toward the back, Mari leaned over in the boat and plunged her hand beneath the blue depths, feeling for the cave wall. She touched something spongy and soft, bringing it to the surface. It was a clump of sea algae. She held it out for Lia, pointing to a cluster of tiny spheres, resembling yellow bubbles, hidden among the algae. Fish eggs. “How many?” Pippa asked, leaning forward. Mari squinted in the low light, counting. “Hundreds,” she said, feeling pleased. “Because of the incantesimo dell’elemento?” Lia asked, fumbling over the words. “The one where we use the dried-up fish snout?” “Close,” Mari replied, “but not quite. For this, there is no need to change the composition of the water. Only the temperature of it, which is the incantesimo raffreddare.” Such cold-water spells resulted in good conditions for breeding. It also attracted tiny organisms, which meant food for larger fish. “Do you remember which tool that spell requires?” Lia frowned for a moment. “The mermaid’s purse.” “Right.” Mari nodded. “The shark egg-sack.”

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“It was then that I caught a flash of skin. Bare shoulders, bare neck, and hair the color of cherries. I looked away, ashamed. But I am a man, am I not? I had to glance once more. When I did so, she was coming out of the water, and she was not naked at all. She wore a muslin swimming frock, tied just above her breasts. Her hair hung down to her waist, clinging to her wet skin. In her hands was a small turtle, a hook protruding from his mouth. She looked dismayed—- I thought she might even be crying—- as she worked to remove the object. I thought her straight out of a book. A painting. A dream. Who, I wondered, was this woman that had just emerged from the sea?”

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Book:The Amalfi Curse
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“She shoved the wet rope into her bag and dressed quickly, pulling her shift over her protective cimaruta necklace. Hers bore tiny amulets from the sea and coastline: a moon shell, an ammonite fossil, a kernel of gray volcanic pumice. Recently, Mari had found a tiny coral fragment in the perfect shape of a mountain, which she especially liked. Mountains made her think of inland places, which made her think of freedom.”

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“Witchcraft? Seriously? In spite of this, I spent the next hour reading everything I could find online about stregheria. Its existence was a pervasive legend through Italy, particularly in the Napoli region: the first streghe were believed to have originated in medieval times in Benevento, while the sea witches specifically had originated in the Positano region. As a whole, the women were known for reciting strange incantations and venerating various amulets, the most important of which was a cimaruta, a sort of talisman necklace meant to protect the water. It featured tiny branches, like coral, and charms such as hearts or moons. These women, I learned, were largely practitioners of benevolent kitchen magic: they worked with babies and herbs and gemstones. Today, many women still practiced forms of stregheria, though they were taken about as seriously as other practitioners of the esoteric, like mediums or Reiki healers. Which was to say, not very seriously at all. On an obscure website about the legends of the streghe del mare, I stumbled across a register of sea-spell incantations and their associated tools. I thought the list seemed rather ludicrous--- mermaid's combs and century-long spells?--- but interesting, nevertheless, and I found myself googling images of hagstones and shark egg sacks.”

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Book:The Amalfi Curse
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