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    The Shoemaker's Wife: A Novel
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    The Shoemaker's Wife: A Novel
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    The Shoemaker's Wife: A Novel
    Ebook635 pages10 hours

    The Shoemaker's Wife: A Novel

    By Adriana Trigiani

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "…an old-fashioned, romantic tale of two star-tangled lovers...but also a paean to artisanal work, food, friendship and family…Trigiani is a master of palpable and visual detail." — Washington Post

    Beloved New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani returns with the most epic and ambitious novel of her career—a breathtaking multigenerational love story that spans two continents, two World Wars, and the quest of two star-crossed lovers to find each other again.

    The Shoemaker's Wife is replete with the all the page-turning adventure, sumptuous detail, and heart-stopping romance that has made Adriana Trigiani, “one of the reigning queens of women’s fiction” (USA Today). Fans of Trigiani’s sweeping family dramas like Big Stone Gap and Lucia, Lucia will love her latest masterpiece, a book Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, calls “totally new and completely wonderful: a rich, sweeping epic which tells the story of the women and men who built America dream by dream.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062098061
    Unavailable
    The Shoemaker's Wife: A Novel
    Author

    Adriana Trigiani

    Beloved by millions of readers around the world for her ""dazzling"" novels (USA Today), Adriana Trigiani is “a master of palpable and visual detail” (Washington Post) and “a comedy writer with a heart of gold” (New York Times). She is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including her latest, The Good Left Undone- an instant New York Times best seller, Book of the Month pick and People’s Book of the Week. Her work is published in 38 languages around the world. An award-winning playwright, television writer/producer and filmmaker, Adriana’s screen credits include writer/director of the major motion picture of her debut novel, Big Stone Gap, the adaptation of her novel Very Valentine and director of Then Came You. Adriana grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where she co-founded The Origin Project, an in-school writing program serving over 1,700 students in Appalachia. She is at work on her next novel for Dutton at Penguin Random House.  Follow Adriana on Facebook and Instagram @AdrianaTrigiani and on TikTok @AdrianaTrigianiAuthor or visit her website: AdrianaTrigiani.com.  Join Adriana’s Facebook LIVE show, Adriana Ink, in conversation with the world’s greatest authors- Tuesdays at 3 PM EST! For more from Adriana’s interviews, you can subscribe to her Meta “Bulletin” column, Adriana Spills the Ink: adrianatrigiani.bulletin.com/subscribe.

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    Reviews for The Shoemaker's Wife

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. The story of Enza and Ciro is such a wonderful love story. It took them awhile to really find each other but then it was a love that was pure. The story really brought forward some of the struggles immigrants faced at the beginning of the 1900s. It was beautifully written and I can't wait to read more by this author as this was my first glimpse into her writing. This book is a must read.
    • 5/5
      LOVE LOVE LOVE! Sad and sweet at the same time. The parts about the opera were fascinating.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyable, but not fantastic. Some lyrical passages, but then also some very trite and predictable stuff. I don't need to be hit over the head with every "main idea"!
    • 2/5
      I had picked up this book because my grandmother always loved reading Trigiani's works and my grandfather's father was a shoemaker from Italy. So it sounded like a match made in heaven. I ended up disliking the characters and the story, although from this far a distance I cannot recall why. At least I have since read a book by Trigiani that I did really enjoy it, so it made up for this doozy.
    • 4/5
      The story is beautiful. It's long, so I recommend taking your time to get to know the characters, the setting, and the time period. Enza sounds like a lovely girl. My heart broke when I read of her sorrow at the loss of her sister, Stella. Ciro and his brother, Eduardo, did not have that idyllic childhood that we all crave. Left to the care of nuns and later separated, that type of childhood will either harden a man or make him cherish the people who truly want to be a part of your life.

      As adults, I think both Ciro and Enza learned that if you want to make it, you have to be willing to work hard. It's not going to be easy and bumps do happen along the way, but it is usually worthwhile. They both shared the same values: work hard, love your family, embrace your friends because sometimes they are your only family.

      While it's not a book that I would go out of my way to re-read (it's almost 500 pages!), I still would recommend it to others. Have a box of tissues handy because if you are anything like me, some parts will make you all teary-eyed.

      Enjoy!
    • 3/5
      A patron had recommended this as a "must read". I was interested enough to read it quickly, interesting story and setting though it was a little too "preachy" for me.
    • 4/5
      Couldn't put this down and ended up bawling like a baby. What a beautiful book.
    • 4/5
      This book is very long but I loved this book more as I went along and it wasn't just because of the story, but for the style of writing. I felt comforted by the humaneness and the integrity of the characters. I liked the way that the author detailed the characters' emotions and that these emotions were very rational and insightful. Some might feel that this is unrealistic, which I suppose it is, but this is escapism. I understand Kathryn Stockett's review of this book now when she described it as, "A rich, sweeping epic."
    • 4/5
      Ms. Trigiani certainly has taken her style to a new level of historical fiction with The Shoemaker's Wife. I was a little concerned at first as the book started off a little slow for me but, I was soon swept up in the beauty of the mountains. What a wonderful glimpse at what so many of our immigrant relatives had to endure as they came to America.
    • 3/5
      The book moved slow for the most part, and then jumped years suddenly. The last couple of chapters were incredibly sad- I shed some tears. Overall, it was a good story, but a bit verbose. Another reviewer called it, "a little predictable and contrived", and I would agree with that.
    • 3/5
      This book just went on too long. Not bad but not excellent, either. Glad I got it from the library, no need to own.
    • 5/5
      Adriana Trigiani's "The Shoemaker's Wife" is an epic tale of immigration, love, and finding your life. The novel spans three decades, from the 1910s to the end of World War II. At the center of the story are Ciro and Enza, two young immigrants from the same small town in the Italian Alps. Both must immigrate to New York under duress, after their initial spark in Italy. After a chance encounter in New York, the two must decide if their future lies together or apart.I really enjoyed this novel, the first I head read by Trigiani. My understanding is that her novels are normally romances, but I felt like this novel was more like good historical fiction with a bit of romance thrown in. From the Italian Alps to the street of Little Italy to the trenches of France during World War I, this novel covers a lot and Trigiani does a great job of taking her reader along on her characters adventures. For me the characters felt genuine and I liked them, always something that helps me connect to a novel. My only real complaint with this enjoyable page turner was that although the novel is long (at nearly 400 pages) the author's pacing is uneven. She spends a lot of time in certain parts of the story, and very little in others.Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It was a fairly light, quick read, with good historical detail and just the right amount of romance.
    • 5/5
      What a treasure of a book! After her husband dies, Catherine Lazzari does not rebound. She therefore takes her two young sons to be cared for by the Sisters of San Nicola in a mountain village in her native Italy and disappears from their lives for decades. Eduardo and Ciro are very different from one another but their love and respect for each other is equally strong. Eduardo is quiet , religious and studious while Ciro is a charmer with a zest for life and a strong work ethic. The nuns are their family and they are well cared for and well loved.We follow these brothers for decades and from Italy to America for Ciro where his talents and hard work serve him well. This book has it all; adventure, history, drama, love, disappointment and triumph. It is so well told that every detail of the Italian mountainside and every level of growth and achievement blossoms in the reader's soul. Back when I was in high school, required reading was Steinbeck and Dickens. To stay on as fine a level, today it should be Adriana Trigiani if it already isn't.
    • 4/5
      Pleasant story about an Italian girl who emigrates to America.
    • 3/5
      I know this was supposed to be Adriana Trigiani's masterpiece epic novel, but honestly? To me, it was just okay. It does contain the history of her family, and their immigration here to the US from a mountain-top in Italy. And it does contain some great history of golden days at the Met. But it just proves to me that while most of us have some fascinating moments in our lives, there's a lot of everyday stuff. Well written, though, and only helps to firm up in my mind that despite my mother's death bed wish that I "write a book about her", it would be really hard to carry off.
    • 5/5
      The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

      Challenges read for: Goodreads, EBook, Historical Fiction, Immigrant Stories

      Book Cover: Love it! I'm not so sure of the historical accuracy of the dress, but who cares--it's still beautiful!

      I loved the last paragraph of the book: "She twisted the gold ring Ciro had placed on her hand so many years ago on the day they were married. She had never taken it off. Enza remembered Ciro's words:
      Beware the things of this world that can mean everything or nothing. Love. Gold. Somehow, Ciro had managed to give Enza both, but the love had been the everything."

      And that summed up a beautiful story of a very powerful love that began in the Alps of Italy and ends in the heartland of America. We travel through time with Enza and Ciro, learning the stories of their youth, their passages to America, finding and losing each other and finally, finally able to unite, become a family, and for Enza, suffer a great loss. Enza's story takes us from a ramshackle house in Hoboken, NJ to a fabulous career as a costumer to Enrico Caruso and working at the Met in NYC. Ciro learns his trade of expert shoemaker and then feels compelled to join up and fight for his country in what was then called "The Great War". It is the aftereffects of this war that will eventually end their love story, but the story of family continues--this is the story based on Adriana Trigiani's grandparents. It is also a story that we readers have been blessed with, for Adriana has truly given us a gift with this one!
    • 5/5
      The Shoemaker's Wife is currently my favorite book EVER! I have enjoyed all of Adriana Trigiani's books but this one went above and beyond for me. Just thinking about re-reading the book makes me happy. If you like a book with well written and realistic characters, you must read this book.
    • 4/5
      This is a lovely story although it did not turn out as I expected it would when I first started reading it. I thought it would revolve more around the two brothers, Ciro and Eduardo; their different life stories. It's a nice love story but it in my opinion it did get repetitious in it's attempt to get the love story across.
    • 2/5
      This review is for the audio version. A professional artist read the first half of the book. She was excellent. Then about 1919 the author started reading, separating the book into the past and the present. (Why was 1919 supposed to be the present and the time preceding the past?). She obviously felt the story deeply and personally, but I found her reading unpleasant. I may have enjoyed the book more had I read it the old fashioned way.
    • 5/5
      The first thing you notice about Adriana Trigiani's newest novel, The Shoemaker's Wife, is the stunning cover. A gorgeous woman in a tangerine colored gown strikes a dramatic pose against a wallpapered print that evokes the beauty of an Italian village. The first time I saw it, it literally took my breath away.I have read many of Trigiani's books, starting with the Big Stone Gap series, through the Valentine series, stand alone books like Rococco, and her non-fiction book about her grandmothers titled Don't Sing at the Table, and enjoyed them all, but all of the those books so clearly led her to write this masterpiece, her best book yet, The Shoemaker's Wife.Some writers are better at story (John Grisham, for example), others excel at writing memorable characters; in my mind, no author is better than Trigiani at writing the setting of the story. We fell in love with the small town of Big Stone Gap in Virginia and all of the wonderful people who lived there. In the Valentine series, we were a part of Greenwich Village, and made unforgettable visits to the Italy and Argentina.Trigiani's writing is so vivid and visual, you can picture each setting so clearly in your mind, you feel like you've taken a trip there yourself. Clothing, shoes and interior design have also played a part in many of her books, and I have often lamented that there were no illustrations of the beautiful things that were being described.In The Shoemaker's Wife, we begin early in the 20th century in the Italian Alps, both beautiful and dangerous. Young Ciro Lazzari and his older brother Eduardo are being sent to a convent following the death of their father, who was working in a mine in America. Their grieving mother was unable to to care for them.At the convent, Ciro learned to work with his hands, doing all of the chores that the nuns needed. Eduardo took to the prayer and ritual of religious life. The relationship between the brothers is so well-written; they were very different from and yet devoted to each other.Young Enza lived with her family on the mountain. They did not have much money, but her father scraped out a living ferrying people up and down the mountain with his horse and carriage.Ciro meets Enza when he is sent to dig a grave for Enza's young sister who died tragically. They share time together and a special connection is made between the two. Ciro runs afoul of the local priest when he sees him in an embrace with a young girl. The priest wants Ciro gone, and the nuns send him to America.Enza and her father also emigrate to America to make enough money to send home to build a family home. They are sad to leave their family behind, but know that if they work hard and save all their money, they will return home soon.Ciro becomes a shoemaker's apprentice in Greenwich Village. Enza works in a clothing factory, a sweatshop where she makes a lifelong friend in Irish immigrant Laura. Over the years, Ciro and Enza run into each other, and although they both have feelings for each other, they are kept apart for many reasons.Enza and Laura get the opportunity of a lifetime when they are chosen to work as seamstresses at the Metropolitan Opera. Enza's creativity gets her noticed, and she is thrilled to be able to design for Enrico Caruso, the international star of the Met.This section of the novel soars. The excitement of New York City, the grandeur of the opera house, the lovely boarding house where Enza and Laura live, the gorgeous costumes they create- I was swept away with the beauty of it all.Enza and Ciro are star-crossed lovers, but you can tell by the title of the book that they are fated to be together. They are hard-working immigrants and when an opportunity to make a better life in Minnesota arises, they take it.These characters are based in part on Trigiani's grandparents. Reading this book will encourage many people to talk to their grandparents and great-grandparents, to hear their stories, which are probably very similiar. Isn't it funny how we never think of our grandparents as young people, in love and trying to build a life, but they are precisely the people who built our country.Trigiani hits the nail on the head with her depiction of Enza and Ciro's marriage; it isn't always easy, no matter how much in love they are. There is one scene near the end that takes place among Ciro, Enza and their son that just broke my heart, and the beauty and sadness of it was both private and universal at the same time.She writes so many thoughtful passages; as the mother of two sons, this one particularly touched me:"A man need his father more as life progresses, not less. It is not enough to learn how to use a lathe, milk a cow, repair a roof; there are greater holes to mend, deeper wells to fill, that only a father's wisdom can sustain. A father teaches his son how to think a problem through, how to lead a household, how to love his wife. A father sets an example for his son, building his character from the soul outward."The Shoemaker's Wife is Adriana Trigiani's most magnificent work yet. As beautiful on the inside as the cover is on the outside, it moved me immensely. This is the book I will put into all of my family and friends' hands, saying "you must read this!"
    • 4/5
      This was a very sweet, semi-historical novel which was very well written. I enjoyed it except the very last 1/4 seemed to drag to me and thus instead if not being able to put the book down, I found myself actually putting it down and just wanting it to hurry up and end so I could get on to another read. Overall, I liked the writing style and the story.
    • 3/5
      The love story of Enza and Ciro. that starts in the Italian Alps, moves to New York and ends in Minnesota. I really enjoyed the stories of Ciro and his brother Edwardo growing up in the convent, also the stories about immigration and ship travel and the stories of Enza as a young girls in her early years sewing for the Met and finding her way in New York. Once Enza and Ciro move to Minnesota, the novel became a bit long and repetative. All in all a good story and I enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      Good summer read. Held my interest and created sadness and joy. Ciro leaves Italy after having met Enza. He comes to New York, becomes a shoemaker and a playboy until he finally reunites with Enza. They marry and have a son. He dies of cancer. Their son Antonio ultimately marries Angela, the daughter of Ciro's shoemaker partner, and as the book closes Enza, Antonio and Angela head to Italy to see the entire family--Enza's father and brothers and sister's, Ciro's mother and Franciscan monk brother and Angela's father, new step mother and brothers.
    • 5/5
      the love story of two Italian immigrants who meet briefly in Italy before renewing their relationship in New York City and then starting their marriage in the Iron Range of Minnesota. great story,, even if Enza, the heroine is way too good to believe. based on the author's grandparent's lives.
    • 4/5
      I can't remember the last Trigiani book I read, but I know it was back when my most challenging reads were because of length of the novel rather than depth of the prose. I'm afraid I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this book.I'm happy to say that I judged this book too harshly before I'd even really taken a look at it. It is, in fact, a nicely told tale of historical fiction. It felt surprisingly true, with little details about the time in which it was set that gave it substance. It's not a time with which we are too familiar and it's not a place we know well either and that adds to the charm of the story.I'm not one for long books and I'm not wild about a romance and I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but somehow this book overcame all my (highly opinionated) objections and won me over. I liked the story and you probably will, too.
    • 3/5
      A very pleasant and predictable read. I very much enjoyed the descriptions of Italy, I felt like I was there.
    • 3/5
      I wish this book had ended about 200 pages earlier than it did. I really liked the first 2/3rds of the story - mostly when Enza and Ciro's stories were told separately. I was completely sucked in to what was going on for each of them and found myself thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it. However, their love story, at least until they get married, didn't feel very realistic to me. Maybe I'm a skeptic, but I've never enjoyed the "we met three times and now we're going to get married" story. I do realize that this was a different time, but I had a hard time swallowing the soulmate theme. But if they had to end up together, I wish it had ended with their wedding; I felt like the rest of the novel was too forced, an attempt to make things happen. I found myself rolling my eyes often and skimming pages towards the end.
    • 4/5
      This is not only a love story but a story about family and people that we meet along the way that become family. Ciro and Enza meet in italy when they are only fifteen. They meet again in America where they are trying to make their way in the world.
    • 1/5
      I have a very high tolerance for slow moving books with a lot of description, but this one did me in. I read 40% of the book before calling it quits. The descriptions were alright, but between the wandering plot and the lack of passion in the characters, I simply could not continue. Since the book hinges on the romance between the two main characters, I needed much more intensity.
    • 2/5
      Beautiful premise, boring execution. Lovely setting and description. Under-developed characters, too wooden and unapproachable, leading to lack of pathos. The pace was uneven, dragging at first and rushing through major plot developments later. The audiobook was very disconcerting, changing from a competent though underwhelming narrator, and then changing to a frustratingly harsh narrator halfway through the book. Expected more from this author whose Valentine series is impeccably fresh, funny, and heartwarming.