The Shoemaker's Wife

Enza and Ciro meet for the first time as teenagers in the hills of the Italian Alps. They instantly feel a connection to each other that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.  Soon after they meet and Ciro promises to call on Enza, events force Ciro to flee to America.

Enza has dedicated her life to her family, nothing is more important. She works so that they may have a good life and when her family is faced with ruin, Enza offers to go to America to make money for her family. Together with her father, Enza sets off to a different country to save her family.

Enza and Ciro both find work in and around New York and they set out to fulfill their dreams. As the years pass, they have a few chance encounters but there is always something standing in the way of their being together until finally the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Not only is this a tale of love and loss but of family and friendships, of war and poverty, fate and destiny. As Ciro and Enza embark on their separate journeys, they discover themselves, create bonds of friendship that will last a lifetime and struggle to overcome their past in a new world.

The cover of this book is so beautiful and that’s what initially pulled me in and had me picking up the book and I’m so glad I did. Not only is the cover beautiful, but what’s inside is even more beautiful, an epic love story that spans continents and decades. Enza and Ciro are two characters that I won’t ever forget.

Adriana Trigiani has done a beautiful job of bringing Enza and Ciro to life. And that’s exactly is what she has done. Ciro and Enza became more than characters to me and I felt their pain and sorrow, joy and triumph along with them. The writing is so evocative, I felt as if I was in the Italian Alps and New York with them. The characters are as lush and vibrant as the landscapes Trigiani creates.

I’m always intrigued by the history of New York and the beginning of the twentieth century is a fascinating time in that history as waves of immigrants flooded the harbors seeking out new lives for their families.  As the reader, you are transported to a different time, when the America we know was still being built. Through their hard work and determination, Enza and Ciro forge new lives for themselves. But we are also given the chance to see the hardships and prejudice most immigrants were forced to endure.

The Shoemaker’s Wife is one of the best books I have read this year and it’s going in my all-time favorites list. Adriana Trigiani has done a phenomenal job giving life to this beautiful story.