The Shoemaker’s Wife - Adriana Trigiani

Written by Adriana Trigiani
Read by Orlagh Cassidy
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Books on Tape
Release date: September 11, 2012
Duration: 17:48:01

Adriana Trigiani was inspired by her grandparents’ lives when she wrote this story of Ciro and Enza.

The Italian Alps at the turn of the twentieth century is the setting for the first meeting of Enza and Ciro, who meet as teenagers despite growing up just a few miles apart. But when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished 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 each other, the two young people 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 begins an impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan.

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy to the vast plains of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Lovely Italian names and phrases are presented with grace by narrator Orlagh Cassidy, whose voice seems to relish the lush descriptions of Italy’s food and music. When Enza finds herself in New York City, Cassidy elegantly spins opulent descriptions of the opera. Cassidy rises above the overt sentimentality as she recounts the rocky love story between the two immigrants whose connection is disrupted by war and tragedy. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2012