The Madonna of the Mountains, Hardcover

Descriere

An epic novel of the life of one woman in the hardscrabble Italian countryside, oppressed by both a patriarchal society that keeps women in their place as well as by Mussolini's iron-fist rule, but determined to protect her family through war--by any means possible. A sweeping saga about womanhood, religion, loyalty, war, family, motherhood, and marriage, The Madonna of the Mountains is set in Italy during the 1920s to the 1950s, and follows its heroine, Maria Vittoria, from her girlhood in the austere Italian mountains through her marriage to a young war veteran to the birth of her four children, through the National Fascist Party Rule and ending with a decision that will forever affect her family. With beautiful and poignant descriptions of the harsh winters during the war when food was scarce and allegiances questioned, the difficulty raising children and running a shop when her husband is taken away, her fear of the madwoman from her childhood and her Fascist cousin, the pain of watching her elder daughter grow up and away from her. The novel takes us into the mind and heart of one woman who must hold her family together with resilience, love, and faith, in a world where the rules are constantly changing.