The Shoemaker's Wife

The Shoemaker's Wife, by Adriana Trigiani
 
Adriana Trigiani has become an extremely popular writer and The Shoemaker's Wife gives ample evidence as to why she has gained this reputation. With an excellent reading divided between the author and Annabella Sciorra, her story flows so easily and holds the listener's attention. The Shoemaker's Wife revolves around two main characters, Enza and Ciro. They meet quite by accident while both are living in villages tucked away in the northern Italian Alps in the early twentieth century. Each migrates to the United States before World War I unaware than the other has made the same journey. Ciro ends up a shoemaker in lower Manhattan and Enza becomes a seamstress. Their lives intersect at times, but then they wander off in different directions. Enza eventually has a great success creating wardrobes for the Metropolitan Opera while Ciro makes a good living making the shoes for the men building bridges and buildings in New York.

The book has great settings : early twentieth century New York City, the rugged mountains of northern Italy, battlefields of World War I as well as the mining areas of Minnesota. Enza and Ciro proceed through their lives and eventually find happiness. The Shoemaker's Wife on cd is a very pleasurable listening experience.
-Roy