This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Unexpected Encouragement in The Shoemaker's Wife

A good book can be hard to find. Check this one out!

 

The Shoemaker’s Wife is a book that belongs on the New York Times Best Seller list. Its strong characters, emboldening storyline, and encouraging message are the very things that define a good read.

Find out what's happening in Peachtree Cornerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Found on the “recommendation shelf” at Barnes & Noble, I picked up the novel hoping to surrender myself to a “chick book” for the sake of a woman-worthy book review. What I found was the message I needed in life.

Find out what's happening in Peachtree Cornerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Don’t ever give up. When we close the great chapters of our lives, like college or single-hood, we make goals for ourselves to accomplish in our new chapter. Often, those goals become unfulfilled. It’s not for wanting of failure, or quitting, it’s that our paradigms shift. The Shoemaker’s Wife allows the reader to understand the need for that shifting and reveals the greatness of what it can hold.

 

The novel follows Ciro Lazzari and Enza Ravenelli, mere children at first growing into the promises of turn-of-the-century America before and during the First World War. From small northern Italian towns, the two create their own future by allowing their ambition to drive them. However, frustration ensues when their love is postponed again and again by that famed ambition.

 

Nevertheless, “Fate” will not let them be apart for long. Most notably, and admirably, their love is not the driving force of the novel. Both characters have their own story to tell. The love story is more like a bonus than a constant pining romance. The shadow of World War I and the blossoming of these two immigrants create a web of burgeoning wariness and yet compelling hope that these two will be able to fulfill their innocent dreams for their future.

 

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani is a truly heartening and refreshing read that is impossible to put down.

 

Read more from Gracie on Eve

 

Photo courtesy of hyena reality / FreeDigital Images 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Peachtree Corners