The Amalfi Curse

by Sarah Penner

Still, there was something strange in the data I’d reviewed: the early nineteenth century saw a spike in Li Galli shipwrecks, one after the other through the 1820s and 1830s. Nearby villagers couldn’t explain the uptick in incidents, though some speculated a sinkhole had altered the topography around the islets. The phenomenon had been dubbed the Amalfi Curse and, for more than eighty years, mariners avoided Li Galli altogether.

“It is like a left-handed shell. The spiral goes left, instead of right.” She plucked a few other shells from the sand near her feet, showing him how their spirals differed from the one in his hand. “Sinistral shells are highly valued, rare as they are.”

“Sometimes,” she concluded, “the greatest treasure to be found is…love.”