This author's background as an Italian growing up in Australia, coupled with a deep affection for London where they now reside, informs their literary output. With over two decades of experience in writing both fiction and non-fiction, and nearly as long teaching creative writing, their journey to embracing the identity of a writer has been a significant one. Their work is undoubtedly shaped by these cultural intersections and personal experiences. They express profound gratitude to their readers for their engagement and reviews.
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"Maria Vittoria is twenty-five when her father brings home the man who will become her husband. It is 1923 in the austere Italian mountain village where her family has lived for generations, and the man she sees is tall and handsome and has survived the First World War without any noticeable scars. Taking just the linens she has sewn that make up her dowry and a statue of the Madonna that sits by her bedside, Maria leaves the only life she has ever known to begin a family. But her future will not be what she imagines. The Madonna of the Mountains follows Maria over the next three decades, as she moves to the town where she and her husband become shopkeepers, through the birth of their five children, through the hardships and cruelties of the National Fascist Party Rule and the Second World War. Struggling with the cost of survival at a time when food is scarce and allegiances are questioned, Maria trusts no one and fears everyone - her Fascist cousin, the madwoman from her childhood, her watchful neighbors, the Nazis and the Partisans who show up hungry at her door. As Maria's children grow up and her marriage endures its own hardships, she must hold her family together with resilience, love, and faith, until she makes a fateful decision that will change the course of all their lives."--Provided by publisher
Venezien 1923: Maria Vittoria muss dieses Jahr heiraten, sonst wird es nie geschehen. Sie ist schon fünfundzwanzig, trotzdem findet ihre kleine Schwester sie schön. Ihr Vater findet einen Ehemann für sie, und Maria hat Glück: Gut sieht der Fremde aus, er ist kein alter Mann, er ist nicht kriegsversehrt. Sie ist dem neuen Inhaber des Dorfladens eine gute Frau, gebärt ihm über die Jahre fünf Kinder, und an Arbeit mangelt es nicht. Doch die Zeiten sind beschwerlich in den italienischen Bergen. Und man muss sich in Acht nehmen. Denn im Faschismus ändern die Regeln sich fast täglich. Maria ist fest entschlossen, ihre Familie zu beschützen. Koste es, was es wolle.
In einer Welt, die jeden Tag neue Schreckensmeldungen bereithält, gehen uns Geschichten mit Happy End besonders ans Herz. Vor allem, wenn sie von der Liebe handeln. Elise Valmorbida hat solche Geschichten gesammelt und die schönsten in diesem Buch zusammengestellt. Zwei Menschen, die als Erwachsene ihre erste Liebe aus Kindertagen wieder aufleben lassen, Weltenbummler, die endlich im Hafen ihrer Liebsten vor Anker gehen, ein romantischer Briefwechsel, der die Entfernung zwischen zwei Kontinenten überbrückt: Das sind Geschichten, die das Leben schreibt. Geschichten von Jung und Alt, von heute und gestern, von hier und vom anderen Ende der Welt. Elise Valmorbida hat Paare ihre persönlichen Liebesgeschichten erzählen lassen und in diesem herzerwärmenden, inspirierenden Buch zusammengestellt. Ein wahres Kleinod – beinahe so schön wie die Liebe selbst.
WINNER OF THE 2019 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION 1923, north-eastern Italy: Maria Vittoria's father has left the village to find her a husband. He has taken his mule, a pack of food and a photograph of Maria. There are no eligible men in this valley, or the next one, and her father will not allow her to marry just anyone. Just as Fascism blooms in the country, the crops ripen, and the state demands babies - a new generation. There is much work to be done, and Maria faces a stony path, but one she will surely climb to the summit.