Beautifully composed with but with a heartbreaking sadness to it. It starts out slow but does pick up.
I would recommend this to others.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

After an initial slow start that had me doubtful as to whether or not this was the book for me, From Ashes to Song turned out to be a richly rewarding read. It follows the lives of Pietro and Assunta, two young people who separately immigrate to America at the same time, travelling over on the same boat. Their lives become connected rapidly in the way that migrants often did on account of working together and living in the same neighbourhoods, befriending the same people and facing the same barriers and challenges to adjustment within their new country.

Grief is a recurring theme throughout this novel which is really a reflection on the times. This was before the miracle of antibiotics, a time when you could lose a child to the type of infection we treat with ease today. Work practices are also so much safer now, the type of mining disasters as detailed within this novel far less of an occurrence. And while this story was liberally peppered with tragedy, I didn’t feel it was overdone, rather, a representation of what life must have been like. For Assunta, who bears the most tragedy within this novel, her experiences were compounded by isolation, living in an entirely different continent to her family and support network. I felt that the author captured the effects this would have had on a person quite accurately.

‘The music orchestra of joy, clamouring brass of death. Every instrument he could think of, each playing its own tune – intense pain, intense joy, nothing that could exist together, a mighty cacophony, drowning him in music. His head felt on the brink of imploding.’

Woven into every part of this story is music. Pietro is a musician, but he not only plays the clarinet, he is a composer. All sound is interpreted as music to him, it’s everything. I did really love this, the way in which the music was such a part of Pietro’s soul and how the author translated this music feeling onto the page. At times, the music allowed Pietro to communicate the most important things at the best time. At others, it was a barrier he couldn’t get past. Even when he tried to live without it, he couldn’t. He was a musician through and through.

‘After she fell asleep, Pietro came down and opened his notebook to write the song that had come to him for his new child. A song barely touching on the immensity of his joy, there may not have been song enough in the whole world to capture such joy.’

From Ashes to Song is an excellent read, a beautiful tribute to the early 20th century Italian immigrant experience into America. It’s peopled with richly developed characters and a complex storyline that will appeal to fans of historical fiction family sagas.


Thanks is extended to Sunbury Press for providing me with a copy of From Ashes to Song for review.

This was a beautifully written but heartbreaking book. Fair warning: have tissues ready. The author captivated me in the beginning with descriptive imagery and careful character building, and held my attention as the story picked up and their journey intensified. I really loved almost everything about this book, but it is a very heavy read, and I felt the ending was a bit abrupt. But wow, what a beautiful story that will linger with me for a while.

This story inspired by true events is one of ordinary people that left their country during the great wave of immigration to start in a new life in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. This fictional portrayal of two young people who represent those who ventured from the vineyard in Italy for what they thoughts would be a better life in America. What they faced is hardship in the shanty towns and the danger in the coal mines. This is the story of Pietro, a maestro clarinetist and Assunta whose beautiful voice was the inspiration for his music.

The story span from 1911 to the 1950’s and touches: love, loss, heartache, happiness, sadness, all aspect of life one must face. The story is elegantly written and meanders a lot from page one till the wrap up in order to pull us into the mindset of the time. It is an emotional journey; the days are incredibly hard for them but their will to success made them stronger. Pietro music is so well describes I could almost hear it....the snippets nicely ties everything together. The characterisation is fairly realistic; the author has captured skillfully the time and place and has penned a fictional story that will please most.

So why did “From Ashes to Song”, not pique my interest and hold me captive from start to finish? Why did I find this story somewhat boring? Maybe, the lack of intensity in the progression of the story that simply was plugging along and said in an even tone that did not totally agree with me but again this is only my opinion.

I just reviewed From Ashes to Song by Hilary Hauck. #FromAshestoSong #NetGalley. I received it as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Although it started a little slow it intensifies.

What a beautifully written story this is. It begins in the breathtaking vineyards’ of Italy in 1911 when Pietro is a young man, still not knowing what direction his life is going to take him when disaster strikes. The vines become contaminated and have to be destroyed just weeks before the harvest, and it is all too much for his grandfather to take, and he passes away. Pietro is only left with his music, and a promise to honour his grandfather’s wishes, to follow his music and a new start.


Pietro heads for America, meeting people who will become a massive part of his life and influence his ability to create beautiful music. The story is based on fact but wound around a fictional story where somethings have been changed. It is bursting with larger than life characters, who, on the whole, are good people that help each other out. The only way Pietro can make ends meet is to work down the coal mines in Pennsylvania. Different people he comes across, influence his music, but one woman makes him see every movement as music, but she is married.

It is such an emotional journey reading this book, the hardships and losses from sickness and terrible accidents at the mines. Every day is so incredibly hard for them all, but it always seems to band them together never pull them apart. It is the simple things in the book that made my heart skip and feel so humbled. The way the author describes Pietro’s music made me have goose lumps to the point that I could feel it through the people that listened to him.


It isn’t all sadness, as there is one particular story in the book had had me crying with laughter over some chickens. It is such a gem of a book. The story follows Pietro’s life and those close to him. A superbly crafted story from the heart.

I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.