Book Review - "The Shoemaker's Wife" by Adriana Trigiani

Library patron Cathy Long reviews Trigiani's new bestseller:

In books like Queen of the Big Time, published in 2005, Adriana Trigiani captures the emotional soul of Italian-American immigrants, especially those living in the small local community of Roseto, Pa.  In The Shoemaker’s Wife Trigiani not only recreates that invigorating and undying soul, but also tracks the very root of that emotion through the poignant and steadfast love of Enza and Ciro.

Trigiani takes her reader on a voyage that comes full circle beginning in the Italian Alps, through the labyrinth of Ellis Island, to turn of the century New York City, to the unlikely destination of Minnesota and back to the pristine Italian Alps, all underscored by the music of  the Great Caruso.   Enza and Ciro’s journey first begins as a series of missteps and miscues, their lives seemingly doomed to travel parallel rather than intersecting routes.  However, destiny eventually leads them to a pivotal and dream-fulfilling moment that will change their lives forever.

As a novel of epic proportion that has taken Trigiani twenty years to write, The Shoemaker’s Wife is a tour de force and the culmination of a personal journey for the author to honor the memory of her grandparents.  Although this novel is set over 100 years ago, the universality of its characters and their hopes make The Shoemaker’s Wife just as relevant for readers today.  This story of love and loss, tragedy and perseverance, faith and fortitude, humility and dignity is a wonderful homage to Trigiani’s grandparents and ultimately a life lesson for all of us whose ancestors came to this country seeking the American Dream.