The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza's family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Lush and evocative, told in tantalizing detail and enriched with lovable, unforgettable characters, The Shoemaker's Wife is a portrait of the times, the places and the people who defined the immigrant experience, claiming their portion of the American dream with ambition and resolve, cutting it to fit their needs like the finest Italian silk.

This riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write, one inspired by her own family history and the love of tradition that has propelled her body of bestselling novels to international acclaim. Like Lucia, Lucia, The Shoemaker's Wife defines an era with clarity and splendor, with operatic scope and a vivid cast of characters who will live on in the imaginations of readers for years to come.

For years I have been hearing how good Adriana Trigiani is. Some of my favourite bloggers are big fans and there are always lots of really enthusiastic reviews for her books. I did read another book by her last year and I liked it, but after reading The Shoemaker's Wife I get it....I really get it!

The Shoemaker's Wife was inspired by the author's grandparents story, and you can really see that she is invested in the story that she is telling.

Our story starts when we meet Ciro and his brother Eduardo. Their mother is taking them to a convent in small town in the Alps in Northern Italy. Their father has died (they think) in a mining accident in America and she can no longer provide for them and so she takes them to the nuns to be educated and nurtured into adulthood. Whilst both boys miss their parents terribly, they are cared for well by the nuns. Eduardo is more sombre and studious whereas Ciro is a much more physical presence.

Ciro is asked to go up to another small town further up the mountain to dig a grave, and at that time he meets Enza. There is an instant connection between the two of them, and who knows, if fate hadn't conspired against them, the story might have begun and ended right there. However, like all star-crossed lovers nothing is as simple as that.

As a result of an issue that Ciro has with the local priest he is sent away to start a new life in America and Eduardo joins the church. Ciro is sent to a relative of one of the nuns to learn a trade. He is to become a shoemaker's apprentice.

Enza also makes her way to America, travelling with her father to try and earn enough money to send back to her family in Italy so that they can build their house and business up. Enza's father goes on to work in other states, leaving Enza to make her own way in life. After a rough start, Enza makes friends with Laura and the two girls become each other's support and strength and they soon  manage to get to New York, find somewhere to live and jobs working in the Metropolitan Opera. They are exposed to the glamour of the opera and to get to know many of the stars including the amazing Enrico Caruso.

There are a couple of other meet ups between Ciro and Enza along the way, and each time the connection is clear and strong, but again, fate and also World War I, get in the way of our young couple. Ciro is something of a ladies man, and Enza doesn't sit waiting for Ciro to come to his senses. As a result, the scene where finally all the stars align is both dramatic and poignant.

The next part of the book brings a move to another new location when Enza and Ciro move to Minnesota. Ciro builds up his business with the help of his business partner and friend, and also with the active involvement of Enza who uses her skills as a dressmaker and her natural affinity for people to help the family to settle into their new home and to thrive.

Structurally, the book is divided into three clear parts and each part has a different feel in a way. What connects the three parts are the strong characters, the strong sense of location whether it be Italy, New York or Minnesota, and the way that Trigiani is able to bring the senses to life with her descriptions of food, of fabrics, of music and of flora.

Whilst this book is sad (yes, I cried on the train in public again at the end of this book) there is also an overriding sense of joy. The author manages to evoke the emotions without having the book become maudlin even as the events of World War I come back to haunt the family in ways that could never be expected.

If there was a small criticism, I am not sure that we really needed the final chapters. It was nice to see what happened, but the book wouldn't have necessarily been a lesser read without those chapters being there.

I gave this book a rating of 4.5/5. This book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and for the War Through the Generations challenge.

I thought for a bit of fun I might see if I could find a video of Enrico Caruso who plays such an important part in the life of Enza in particular. I lucked out when I found a clip of both his voice, and also images of New York at around the time that Enza would have been living there! I actually wasn't sure that I would know the song that was used in the clip, until it started and I realised that it was a song that is used in a TV ad for a pasta sauce brand here. See, I am more cultured than I realised!

Cross posted at The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for the review copy

Queen of The Big Time by Adriana Trigiani

In the late 1800s, the residents of a small village in the Bari region of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, made a mass migration to the promised land: America. They settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, and re-created their former lives in their new home-town to the very last detail of who lived next door to whom. The hardworking Castellucas work the land outside Roseto. Nella, eighteen, aspires to a genteel life "in town," far from the rigours of farm life. But Nella's dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets and falls in love with Renato Lanzara, a wordly, handsome, devil-may-care poet who has a way with words that makes him irresistible. Their friendship ignites into a passionate affair that Nella is certain will lead to marriage. When he disappears without explanation, Nella is left with a shattered heart. Five years later, Renato's sudden return to Roseto, just one week before Nella's wedding, leaves her and all the townsfolk shaken. For although Renato has chosen a path very different from Nella's own, they are fated to live together, in the same town, for the rest of their lives.

Roseto in the 1920s. A small city in America, built by Italian immigrants who recreated the city they come from in Pennsylvania. As the main character explains, if you were my neighbour in Italy you’ll be my neighbour in the new Roseto too.
The Castlellucas live in a farm on the outskirts of Roseto. They have 5 daughters, the oldest Assunta is never satisfied and waits for her arranged marriage to an Italian to take place when he comes over from “the other side”, the middle one Nella, dreams of studying and becoming a teacher. As the book opens she is waiting for her teacher to come and talk to her parents about sending her to school in the city.

In the Castellucas, Trigiani evokes a hard working family in a difficult time, having to take odd jobs and relying on their vegetable gardens for food, having to send their children to work while still young. But she also shows a loving family with happy events, heartbreaking decisions and sorrows to deal with. All in a small town atmosphere where everyone knows everybody and shares the neighbours good and bad moments. Although focusing on Nella the book shows an interesting set of characters in her family, her neighbours, her co-workers and boss. In them the author introduces us to the Italian immigrants who choose to preserve their way of life, their traditions and customs, despite being now in a new country.

The heroine Nella is almost too perfect, she leaves school at fifteen to work in the blouse factory and by sixteen she is forelady. She falls in love with Renato Lanzara with whom she shares a love of poetry and learning. She is abandoned by him and eventually starts going out with Franco Zollerano whom she later marries. Through it all she also has the heartbreak of seeing one sister dying and another finding happiness. She sees her best friend finding love too and the babies of a new generation coming along to become the carriers of tradition. After having spent much of her life unsatisfied and searching for answers she seems to find wisdom and peace, finally.

Grade: B

Lucia Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

Set in the glittering, vibrant New York City of 1950, Lucia, Lucia is the enthralling story of a passionate, determined young woman whose decision to follow her heart changes her life forever.

Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman's department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams, Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the Sartoris' honor is tested.

I just finished it last night and what a nice, warm story it was. When we first know Lucia she is an old lady already and having invited her young neighbour Kit for tea she eventually tells her the story of when she was 25 and a career woman in the 1950s.

I did like Lucia's family with all their italian traditions and their devotion to family and friends. They did have some loud discussions about what was or not proper and about what some of their members should do but they were supportive of each and were always there to help when needed.

Women still had a very traditional, and not equal, treatment and Lucia is determined to avoid the common destiny of becoming a wife and a mother and giving up her work. She wants to keep working and she loves what she does. I thought the Talbot storyline was a bit weak, I could understand how she might be attracted to him as he seemed to promise her the life she wanted but after what happened shouldn't she have realised it was an illusion? It takes her all those years and a trip to Sing Sing to realise that...

In the end it was a very entertaining story, sometimes happy sometimes sad, and ideal to spend an afternoon with...

Grade: B