Susan’s Sicily Letter 1| An Edwardian journey begins
In the winter of 1907–08, two American women disembarked from a steamship and onto the sun-drenched docks of Sicily, arriving on an island known as the “Garden of the Mediterranean.” They had arrived via England, travelled to Genoa on a North German Lloyd steamship, and then onto Sicily. This is the beginning of their adventures through Susan’s eyes, and starts with Susan’s Sicily Letter 1.
This collection of 42 letters opens with Susan’s reaction to the news. It’s a rare, intimate window into Edwardian-era travel, sisterly devotion, and the timeless allure of an island caught between ancient traditions and a rapidly modernizing world.
Some letters, like letter 1, are only a few lines long, others go on for pages.
Susan’s letters are undated, and the author acknowledged when the book was published in 1910 that dates, names and exact locations had been changed. However, the internal clues allow us to place the journey with some confidence in the winter of 1907–1908. Susan’s account predates the catastrophic Messina earthquake of December 1908, which is described separately, from the testimony of someone who experienced it.
Susan’s Sicily letter 1 introduces you to the main characters
Susan (The Chronicler): Young, keen-eyed, high-spirited, and endlessly curious, Susan possesses a novelist’s eye for detail and a traveller’s appetite for the unfamiliar. Unfazed by the discomforts of the 1907 passage, she writes not just to inform, but to transport her sister directly into the scene alongside her.
Betsy (The Sister Back Home): Resting in America, Betsy is the anchor of Susan’s journey. As the sole recipient of these candid dispatches, she receives the unfiltered truth of their adventures — the awe, the exhaustion, her quirky encounters, and culture shock.
Aunt Anne (The Chaperone & Matriarch): A woman of independent means and sharp intellect, Aunt Anne could also be formidable. Plagued at times by what Susan describes as “nervous indigestion” and prone to headaches, she relies heavily on Susan to help plan their travels. Her occasional maladies also give Susan opportunities to venture out independently and explore with friends living on the island.
Why Sicily? Why 1907-1908?
By 1907, the European “Grand Tour” had evolved beyond the gilded parlours of Paris and Rome. The more affluent and adventurous travellers sought rich history, dramatic landscapes, and authentic culture, which they found in abundance on the island of Sicily.
Armed with Baedeker guidebooks, trunks of heavy Edwardian travelling dresses, and an insatiable desire to explore beyond the beaten track, Susan and Aunt Anne set out to traverse coastal harbours, historic ruins, quiet mountain villages, and bustling markets.
Susan’s Sicily Letter 1 captures the exact moment Susan is told she is off to Sicily, and she can barely contain her excitement at the prospect. It’s a very short letter, so we’ve filled the page around it with several pages of backstory. Meet the characters, how they came to be in Sicily, where they would have set out from in America, and the Liverpool landing stage where their crossing began in 1907. You’ll find notes on the length of the voyage, the onboard entertainment, and what a typical menu would have looked like, alongside the berths, the saloon, the class system, luggage restrictions, and what counted as sensible packing for a transatlantic trip abroad in that era.
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Collect Susan’s letters.
Letter One