Mary Vigliante Sydlowski
Description
As a young child, Philomena Rienzi was considered bright and precocious. There was only one problem, she did not speak. Her Italian immigrant parents,
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believing in Old World concepts of shame, bad blood, and divine retribution for parental sins, think she's retarded. Denying her help and compassion, they try to hide her from the world, keeping her tied to a tree in the yard like an animal.
As she grows into her adolescence, however, Philomena finds kindness from a middleaged bachelor neighbor, Tony Giordano, and the elderly Signora Mancuso. Under their care, Philomena's world expands a little, and she and Tony begin to care deeply for each other.
But tensions at home worsen. Philomena's mother begins to slip into insanity and takes her hatred out on Philomena. Her father deserts the family. Finally, when Philomena's mother discovers that her child is not retarded but only mute, her guilt drives her to suicide.
At first, Philomena's prospects brighten. Tony and the Signora take her into their home and she is treated like a human being for the first time in her life. But, being without parents or a guardian, she is made a ward of the State of New York and placed in an institution for the retarded. Given no diagnostic tests to identify the true nature of her handicap, she is injected with sedatives, condemned to be a human vegetable.
But Tony has other plans. Determined to give her a chance for as normal a life as possible, he takes her from the asylum and is charged with abduction.
What happens during the trial will astonish you, anger you, and touch your heart.
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