Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is, well, it's a freebie, so there isnt really one.
I had a few different ideas for a theme, but I have ended up choosing books with fruit in the title. This came about because I just finished reading The Last of the Apple Blossom yesterday, and I also have Apple Tree Yard sitting on my bedside table, so that's where my inspiration came from! And you have to take inspiration where you can find it, right?
The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephen - I just finished this today.
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty - I got this as part of a blind date with a book. I really need to read it so I can hand it to the next person.
The Oak Apple by Cynthia Harrod Eagles - This is the fourth book in the sprawling Morland dynasty series with this one focussing on the period during the reign of Charles I. I've read 7 books but there are still around another 22 to go. I haven't read one for years though
Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris - Apparently I owned this book at one point. I have no idea if I still have it or if it was victim to a cull a couple of years ago. When I finish the current cull and packing I might have more of an idea.
Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss - I definitely own this one. We were planning to go to a town called Cowra last week which is very close to where this book is set but because of lockdown we couldn't go anywhere.
Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigani - I haven't read this one. I did read the first book in the series many years ago and I suspect I borrowed this one from the library at least once. I just never read it.
Watermelon by Marian Keyes - If I was making an actual fruit salad one thing that wouldn't be included is any type of melon. Bleugh!
A Crown of Bitter Orange by Laura Florand - I loved Laura Florand's books, and she was one of only a couple of authors that I kept reading during my massive reading slump a few years ago.
Spring Clean for the Peach Queen by Sasha Wasley - This one is on my list to read soon!
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen - I do enjoy SAA's books.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the Wiggles, this song is the reason why my post is called Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy!
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!
Adriana's Twitter account.
Thank you to TLC Booktours and the publisher for a copy of the book.
Synopsis
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.
“My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” If you just heaved a contented sigh at Mr. Darcy’s heartfelt words, then you, dear reader, are in good company. Here is a delightful collection of never-before-published stories inspired by Jane Austen—her novels, her life, her wit, her world.
In Lauren Willig’s “A Night at Northanger,” a young woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe’s “Waiting” captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion’s Wentworth and Anne as they await her family’s approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani’s “Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane” imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall’s “Jane Austen’s Cat,” our beloved Jane tells her nieces “cat tales” based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler’s “Intolerable Stupidity” finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany’s “Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; and in Jo Beverley’s “Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss,” a widow doesn’t believe she’ll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise.
Regency or contemporary, romantic or fantastical, each of these marvelous stories reaffirms the incomparable influence of one of history’s most cherished authors.
This week over at Historical Tapestry we have been celebrating all things Jane Austen! There are reviews of Austen's books, plus some of the many, many spinoffs that there are around now, a couple of movie reviews, and a group discussion of this book between Kelly, Ana and myself!
Today it is Census day here in Australia, so instead of spending the best part of an hour filling out the census form, I decided to use my time finding not one but two teasers from the books that I am reading. Only problem is, now that I have spent my time doing this, I don't have many more excuses not to answer the Census questions.
The first comes from The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (pages 53)
Sex and hypocrisy. They go together like coffee and cream.
The second teaser is a little longer and comes from page 165 of Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani:
I learned three things about myself after the Deep Sleep. I learned who my true friends are; I learned that I bury my problems until they overcome me in a full-blown crisis; and the biggest thing of all, I learned that I wasn't happy. It's a terrifying thing to admit.
Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in!
