From the bestselling author of The Obituary Writer comes the stirring multigenerational story of an Italian family.
An Italian Wife opens in turn-of-the-century Italy, when young Josephine Rimaldi is forced to follow her new husband to America in an arranged marriage and finds herself in a strange country with a man she doesn't know or love.
Bound by tradition, she gives birth to seven children; the last, conceived in a passionate affair, Josephine must give up for adoption. Josephine spends the rest of her life searching for this child, keeping her secret even as her other children, whose stories unfold in surprising ways, go off to war, get married, and make their own mistakes: Her son suffers in World War I. Her daughter struggles to assimilate in the new world of the 1950s American suburbs. And her granddaughters experiment with the sex, drugs, and rock and roll of the 1970s.
Poignant, sensual, and deeply felt, An Italian Wife is a sweeping and evocative portrait of a family bound by love and heartbreak.
Download and start listening now!
“An Italian Wife is glorious. The life of
Josephine Rimaldi is the heart of this multi-generational family saga with
deep, fertile roots in southern Italy. Reading this novel was like taking a
luscious train ride through the last century. It soars with the power of
Josephine’s dreams as she builds a life and family in America. Full of surprise
and wonder, the writing is at turns poetic and sensitive, then dynamic and
wise. Ann Hood is a master craftsman. This resplendent novel is a grand crescendo
in a pitch perfect career.”
—
Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author