G634 Book Review of The Inheritance by Marianne Perry
Author: Marianne Perry
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5283-4
Publisher: iUniverse
Type of book: Italy, Calabria, earthquake, life, superstition, religion, secrets, romance, orphaned girl, kindness, 1897-1909, 1913, studying, rebel groups
Year it was published: 2012
Summary:
A second generation Canadian-Italian, Marianne's interest in her Calabrian-Sicilian roots has fuelled her genealogical research to solve family mysteries.
Along with researching family history, Marianne's writing reflects her extensive traveling, a passion for adventure, an interest in establishing connections and a yearning to understand our world."What matters the most in life are the people you love and the adventures you have." -Marianne Perry
Characters:
The main characters include Caterina, who is described as an atypical woman, although I didn't really find her to be atypical, aside from the fact that she enjoys learning. But it seemed to me that she doesn't really stand out from other characters. There is also Lorenzo who is gentle, artistic and is more like his mother than father; Padre Valentino is a priest with a past that he must keep hidden at all costs; Santo, Benito and Caesare are Lorenzo's father and brothers. Benito has more of a dual nature towards his mother than Santo and Caesare. There is also Anna, Santo's wife who is independent, very kind-natured and cares little to nothing about class restrictions and barriers which causes her to be beloved by others. There are other characters, but I had a hard time keeping track of who's who.
Theme:
If love is meant to be, it will last forever
Plot:
The story is written in third person narrative from what seems to be a lot of people's points of views, and I have to say that it added greatly to mine confusion as to who is speaking because at one point we are reading Caterina's point of view, and then few paragraphs later we move on to Padre Valentino and so forth. I also thought that the story would be about one thing, but it turned out to be something else.
Author Information:
(from Italy Book Tours)
Meet the author:
Family dynamics, genealogical research to solve ancestral mysteries and international travel are Marianne Perry’s priorities. A second-generation Canadian-Italian, she is the author of The Inheritance, a historical fiction set in Calabria, Italy from 1897 to 1913 inspired by her grandmother’s early life in Calabria. With a thirty-year career in education and communications, Marianne holds a Master of Education Degree from The University of Western Ontario (Canada).
A past member of the Board of Trustees, the Canadian National Arts Centre Corporation, she has also published non-fiction genealogical articles throughout North America. As a girl, Marianne fell in love with The National Geographic Magazine and dreamt of exploring the world. With her recent visit to Antarctica, she achieved her goal of stepping foot on every continent. The mother of two grown children, Marianne and her husband live on the shores of the St. Mary’s River, which drains Lake Superior on the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. She continues to research family history and write non-fiction genealogical articles. In addition, she is working on her second novel and planning further adventures.
Marianne blogs about genealogy, travel, family and writing on her website. Visit her at http://www.marianneperry.ca. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Goodreads.
Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook
Family dynamics, genealogical research to solve ancestral mysteries and international travel are Marianne Perry’s priorities. A second-generation Canadian-Italian, she is the author of The Inheritance, a historical fiction set in Calabria, Italy from 1897 to 1913 inspired by her grandmother’s early life in Calabria. With a thirty-year career in education and communications, Marianne holds a Master of Education Degree from The University of Western Ontario (Canada).
A past member of the Board of Trustees, the Canadian National Arts Centre Corporation, she has also published non-fiction genealogical articles throughout North America. As a girl, Marianne fell in love with The National Geographic Magazine and dreamt of exploring the world. With her recent visit to Antarctica, she achieved her goal of stepping foot on every continent. The mother of two grown children, Marianne and her husband live on the shores of the St. Mary’s River, which drains Lake Superior on the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. She continues to research family history and write non-fiction genealogical articles. In addition, she is working on her second novel and planning further adventures.
Marianne blogs about genealogy, travel, family and writing on her website. Visit her at http://www.marianneperry.ca. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Goodreads.
Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook
Opinion:
To be honest at first I thought the book would be about women who will be attempting to leave Italy for another land, and that background information of the women will be brief. (Maybe something similar to Bianca's Vineyard?) But instead this is a story about a servant girl and her companion, the son of the wealthy mistress and master, and all of it took place in Calabria Italy. The writing and the story are diamonds in the rough and there is something about the story that will keep you reading to the last page, just to find out how it all ends, but a few things such as characters, changing point of view from one to another and confusion about whose side we are reading really add to mine confusion of the story and what its supposed to be about. To be honest, I do feel that the story deserves 3.5 because there is a lot of potential, but I don't do half stars, thus I rounded it to four stars.
This is for Italy Book Tours
TOUR SCHEDULE:
Sept 7 - Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway
Sept 7 - 3 Partners in Shopping - review / giveaway
Sept 8 - Olio by Marilyn - review / author interview / giveaway
Sept 8 - Singing Librarian Books - review / author interview / giveaway
Sept 9 - The Autistic Gamer - review
Sept 10 - Griperang's Bookmarks - review / guest post / giveaway
Sept 10 - Il Mio Tesoro - review / author interview
Sept 14 - allthingsbookie - review / giveaway
Sept 14 - Working Mommy Journal - review / giveaway
Sept 15 - View from the Birdhouse - book spotlight / giveaway
Sept 15 - FLY HIGH! - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sept 16 - The Things We Read - review
Sept 16 - Zerina Blossom's Books - book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sept 17 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review / author interview / giveawaySept 17 - Studentessa Matta - review / giveaway
Sept 17 - 100 Pages a Day - review / giveaway
Sept 18 - Vic's Media Room - review
Sept 21 - Book Stop Corner - review / author interview / giveaway
Sept 21 - Book Nerd - review
Sept 22 - Essentially Italian - review / giveaway
Sept 22 - #redhead.with.book - review / giveaway
Sept 23 - Italophilia - book spotlight / author interview
Sept 24 - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review
Sept 25 - Book and Ink - review / guest post
Sept 27 - Writers and Authors - book spotlight
4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
Thank you for reviewing The Inheritance. Blessings always, Marianne Perry.
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