Excellent work of historical fiction. The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida takes you to a place not often seen in the genre - 1920-1950 Northern Italy during the rise and fall of Mussolini and the events and horrors of World War II. The story follows a large Italian family during the times leading up to, during, and after World War II and all of the struggles they had to endure. Given from the perspective of Maria, the matriarch of a family central to their mountain town, you watch as her life progresses from suitable bride-to-be to strong leader of her own family. The story is well written all of the characters are well-rounded, I enjoyed this book very much. Well done, 5 stars.

Northern Italy in 1923 is the setting for this story of Maria Vittoria, a young woman about to begin an arranged marriage. We travel with her through the next two decades as Fascism and Mussolini take over the country and “Trust no one” becomes her mantra. World War II brings cruel Nazis and marauding Partisans, hunger, deprivation, and fear. Meanwhile, she is raising five children, enduring an abusive marriage, and doing what she believes she must to feed her family and keep them safe.

In addition to painting a picture of life in Italy before, during, and after World War II, this is a tale of a loveless marriage, misplaced pride, religious dominance, and the devaluing of women, not only by their fathers and brothers, but also by their husbands and sons. Maria endures not only political tyranny but also that imposed by the men in her life. Yet, she is a traditionalist willing to impose the same fate on her daughters.

As with any story spanning several decades, children grow up before you have a sense of who they are, things happen in the background, the main characters age, and, unless it’s a three-volume saga, you begin to feel like you’ve missed a lot. I care about Maria’s children because they’re Maria’s children, not because I know them as individuals. In fact, mostly, I don’t like them, based on the little I’ve seen. I dislike her husband, and because I’m judging from a blurry snapshot, it’s hard to tell if he has changed much after all these years.

Still, this is the story of a survivor, a woman who perseveres. It is a tale of the sort of hardships that drove many of our own ancestors to seek a better life in a different country. It is well-written and kept me engaged enough to finish it in two days.

Her heart is trapped. Her mouth is dry. Words spill out before she knows it. “Please, dear God, make him good and handsome.”

“Stupid girl, ” her mother says. “When the children are hungry, they won’t cry Papà, belo, they’ll cry Papà, pan!”

Yes, its bread they’ll want, not looks, but Maria can’t help herself. She has waited so long.

Men are scarce and at twenty-five Maria is fast arriving at a nearly unmarriageable age. The story begins with her father leaving on his mule with food and her photograph to find her a good husband. She is a pretty, strong, healthy and a good, pious daughter- everything worthy of having as a wife. With so many men absent due to the war, he has no choice but to look elsewhere. Living in the Italian countryside is hard, the war is on and Mussolini rules with an ‘iron-fist’, people go hungry. Marriage for love isn’t vital to survive, in a sense it is a business deal so when Maria sets eyes on her husband to be she is happy to learn he is strong and easy on the eyes. There will be no hunchback for her, praise God! She will keep home and make children, all will be happy and right with the world. She no longer has to fear becoming La Delfina, the madwoman who “howls to the moon like a wild dog”. Oh no, she will have a husband, a family, a future! She will not be a mad wandering spinster. With lines like “show him your teeth”, when meeting her suitor, it’s easy to rebel at the reality women faced in a patriarchy.

Each choice made by Maria Vittoria and her husband Achille, a veteran of war with scars and tales of his own, are for the betterment and survival of their children to come. The more children they have, the more money they make. They move, open a grocery store and fall into disgrace. When Maria is in a desperate situation, she will do anything to save her husband, to keep food in her children’s bellies. There is a cousin, one she once had tender feelings for who may be able to help her. But that too is a dangerous decision, and from there his own darkness, and her feelings expose the struggle during times of war, when no one is to be trusted and neighbors whispered suspicions can be life or death, freedom or imprisonment and disrupt love between husband and wife.

Imprisonment, brutality, and broken men returned who will never again be head of the household, young daughters that ache for a different life, who want to marry for love, not caring for family approval, the terror and hope of immigrating, of escape, our Maria will know all of these things. She will be tested as a wife, and as a mother. Discovering secrets of her husband’s past are enough to wound her, are truths she will never be able to ‘not know’. It’s a coming of age in a sense, a hopeful young woman with a hunger from romance that is forced to grow up and lose so much (her dreams, her children). Times of war don’t allow for selfishness, for romantic liaisons nor salvation, because everything costs you something, someone is always watching and no one is judged more than a woman, a mother.

There is no such thing as lying low, as not chosing sides. Who do you trust, your own people, those who invade, others who liberate you? How do you save face with a husband you betrayed in order to save? Can praying to the Madonna of the mountains protect and heal Maria? Will she be forgiven her sins? Can she keep a bowed head while suffering abuse? Does she deserve it for the sins she committed? Miscarriages, births, deaths, love, lies, motherhood -there is a lot going on in this novel. Through war, there is still family complications, and everything is about survival. It’s a harsh reality about an Italian woman during a horrible period of hunger and war; how she loses innocence and hope but stays alive, with sin and without, and keeps her family safe, but it costs her plenty, and her soul is often under scrutiny, by others as much as herself.

Publication Date: June 12, 2018

Random House

The author writes a well-woven story that details the life of a young Italian woman born and raised in the strict manner of both Italian and Catholic cultures. Set in a time period straddling the wars in Italy it highlights both the personal and community hardships brought on by the wars and the difficult choices that have to be made to survive. At the heart of the story is Maria, who has a husband chosen for her by her father, and is moved away from the people and countryside she is most familiar with. Dealing with an abusive, domineering husband, miscarriages, babies and helping to run a business for their livliehood puts immense pressure on Maria. While we sometimes see the independent and capable woman appear, she is a product of the era...and bows to both religion and custom., at the same time showing immense strength of character by making the sacrifices and doing whatever is needed as a mother to help her family survive. I found it interesting the way the author uses a religious statue, the Madonna of the Mountain, who Maria prays to daily, to actually be Maria's "conscience speaking" back at her...at least that was my interpretation. While other characters in the book, husband,,parents, sisters and brothers and cousins add depth to the story, I found the roles of Amelia---the strong-willed daughter, and Primo----the take-charge son, both show the reader the traits of Maria that she keeps hidden. Italian recipes at the end of the book added a personal touch that I enjoyed.

The author skillfully paints a picture of an Italian family: woman’s duties, man’s role, neighbor’s scrutinizing eyes and gossiping lips, families’ feuds. However, the story lacks a background of historical events during WWII. You hardly get to know Mussolini’s regime through this story. My point is the time-period could be presented much better. Besides, the time-period, the story is very well-written and pretty engrossing. Therefore, I left it at 5 stars.

Set in Northern Italy, the story spans between 1920-1950. It starts with a 25 year old Maria, who is already passed a marriageable age, but it’s not her fault that there are no marriageable men in nearby villages. The men were taken by war. But she prays to her icon of the Madonna of the Mountains and continues to hope for a handsome husband. As this is her last straw to get married, her father travels to another valley with her picture to get her a husband. He comes back with a handsome man Maria was praying for. They get married before Easter, a time which rich people pick. She is very proud to be getting married before Easter.

With two kids they move to a town of Fosso, where her husband buys a grocery store with living quarters above. Maria hopes for more kids. Under Mussolini’s regime families with six or more kids get released from taxes. She feels sorry for their new neighbor butcher, who is single and paying heavy taxes.

At 44 with five kids and two miscarriages, Maria no longer wants to go through another pregnancy. It’s been already three years since the WWII began. Rationing of the food is harsh, not enough for a person or family to survive on. People buy goods at black market to survive despite harsh punishment if caught.

Two years later, in 1944, Germany invades Northern Italy. The following year, American forces liberate Southern Italy and move northwards.

I didn’t like the character of La Delfina, a madwoman. She didn’t add much to the story. I was glad that she took only a small part at the beginning of the story. But even those few pages should have been given later on to Amelia, Maria’s daughter. A character that stood out to me, a strong-willed young woman, who follows her heart despite her family disapproval. Amelia is so different from her mother, but at the same time you have to give Maria credit for being a strong woman herself; feeding her family through the worst hunger time and keeping her family together.

The Madonna of the Mountains, by Elisa Valmorbida, is a historical novel set in a time and place that is rarely seen in works of fiction – Italy from the 1920's until the 1950's. A time in history that saw Italian royalty come and go, the rise and fall of Mussolini, Fascists, WWII, Partisians, poverty, hunger, bombings, arrests, American liberation . . . so much drama in one country, it is truly a nation in turmoil. Valmorbida embraces this turmoil and adds to it fiercely Catholic characters to tell the story of one woman, Maria Vittoria, whose only constant is a religious icon – the Madonna of the Mountains. From the time Maria Vittoria is a young maiden she prays to the Madonna to intervene in her life so it will be happy and fulfilled. Initially she envisions marriage her utopia but as life happens her prayers change to reflect her reality.

Valmorbida employs a technique I have never come across before. When Maria Vittoria prays to the Madonna she is answered, with words that are spoken directly to her. As we watch Maria trudge through her life we see how her prayers are changed yet, without fail, the Madonna always answers her with the words she needs to hear.

Valmorbida takes us through the drama of marriage, child birth, spousal abuse, running a business, the loss of babies, black marketeering, sleeping with the enemy, disowning one's own child, saying goodbye and immigration with the constancy of both the natural seasons and the Church's seasons keeping time in the background. There is so much packed into this novel, it will keep you thinking far after you have finished the book. A working knowledge of the Catholic church may enhance your understanding of the plot line. Recommended reading.