By Kimberly Sullivan
An American divorcée. An Italian shepherdess.
Separated by a century, united by common dreams
The sleepy little Abruzzo mountain town of Marsicano seems about as far as Samantha can flee from her failed marriage and disastrous university career. Eager for a fresh start, Samantha begins to set down roots in her Italian mountain hideaway.
At first, the mountain retreat appears idyllic, but an outsider’s clumsy attempts at breaking into the closed mountain community are quickly thwarted when the residents discover Samantha’s snarky blog ridiculing the town and its inhabitants.
Increasingly isolated in her mountain cottage, Samantha discovers the letters and diaries of Elena, a past tenant and a survivor of the 1915 Pescina earthquake. Despite the century that separates the two women, Samantha feels increasingly drawn into Elena’s life, and discovers startling parallels with her own.
Samantha chooses the small town of Marsicano almost on a whim. She is trying to run from a failed marriage, and escape the people that were once in her life, so moving to Italy seems the furthest away she can get to seclude herself in a new life. But, Marsicano is a very close-knit community, and an American inviting herself in doesn’t necessarily mean she is welcome.
In an attempt to keep her writing going while she has no novel ideas, Samantha begins writing a travel blog, and it just so happens that the most popular posts are the ones where Samantha makes fun of the inhabitants of Marsicano. When everyone finds out about it, Samantha is ostracised even more than she was already. Now avoiding the people in her new life, as well as her old, Samantha finds herself utterly alone. That is, until she comes across some diaries, hidden within her new house, belonging to one of the owners of the house in the early 1900s. Samantha finds her only friend in Elena, and spends many hours reading about the woman, and how she survived the 1915 Pescina earthquake.
Samantha is a character I couldn’t decide whether I liked or not. She makes a lot of mistakes and upsets the people around her, but she also goes through a lot and struggles to get by on her own. I sympathised with her, but I couldn’t excuse a lot of the things she did. As she spends more time reading about Elena’s life, she starts to grow more sure of herself, and she becomes a lot easier to like. She finds herself learning she can live by herself, that she needn't be dependent on others to be happy. Elena certainly brings out the best side of Samantha.
The setting of this book is described absolutely beautifully. I have always wanted to go to Italy, but have, in the meantime, resorted to visiting through novels. This book didn’t disappoint with the stunning scenery, and the author clearly knows the area’s geography and history well, and it came across clearly in the writing. The terror of the 1915 earthquake, and the destruction it caused, comes across in both Elena’s story, as she witnesses it first-hand, and Samantha’s, as she looks back at the history. I can only imagine what it must’ve been like, and I truly felt for Elena as the events unfolded before her.
I absolutely adored Elena and her story. She is young and naive, but she loves with all her heart. She struggles with life, working hard to tend to the sheep while falling in love with a boy she has been forbidden to see. Elena is such a strong character, and I adored reading about her. Just through her written words, she gives Samantha courage, and she is truly an inspiration to read about. She lives through losing her family and close friends to the 1915 earthquake, and the build-up to the Great War, and somehow still finds the strength to keep going. Once this book reached Elena’s story, I found it next to impossible to put down. The second half of this book is truly amazing, and I loved reading it.
The way this book is laid out confused me a bit. There is a lot of jumping back and forth between the past and the present, and several storylines that I felt were entirely unnecessary, such as Samantha’s mother’s backstory. From the way the blurb described this book, I expected Elena’s story to run alongside Samantha’s, but we actually don’t learn anything about Elena’s diaries until well over halfway through the book. The parallels between Samantha and Elena’s lives are not as clear as they could be, had their lives played out alongside each other. The story picks up a lot once you reach Elena, but it does, unfortunately, take a while before you get to her.
I am not entirely sure whether the author has written a book that is entirely a historical novel, but if not, they should seriously consider doing so. The historical aspects of this novel were written wonderfully. While Samantha’s story was interesting to follow, Elena’s was absolutely fabulous. I couldn’t tear myself away from it. It is a small section of the book, but it really completed the story, and I loved reading it.
If you are a fan of books set in Italy and have a historical sub-plot, you will more than likely enjoy this book. As mentioned, the first half is a little slower, it does take a while to properly get into the book, but once you reach the mid-point, you will not be able to put it down.
Kimberly grew up in the suburbs of Boston and in Saratoga Springs, New York, although she now calls the Harlem neighborhood of New York City home when she’s back in the US.
She studied political science and history at Cornell University and earned her MBA, with a concentration in strategy and marketing, from Bocconi University in Milan.
Afflicted with a severe case of Wanderlust, she worked in journalism and government in the US, Czech Republic and Austria, before settling down in Rome, where she works in international development, and writes fiction any chance she gets.
She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and The Historical Novel Society and has published several short stories and three novels: Three Coins, Dark Blue Waves, and In The Shadow of The Apennines.
After years spent living in Italy with her Italian husband and sons, she’s fluent in speaking with her hands, and she loves setting her stories in her beautiful, adoptive country.
Website • Blog • Instagram • Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Kobo
Thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting - and for reading and reviewing my story. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it - and especially Elena's tale. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an excellent book.
ReplyDelete