Madonna Of The Mountains

Download or read book The Madonna of the Mountains written by Elise Valmorbida and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A riveting adventure for the soul . . . just the kind of evocative historical fiction I love.”—Sara Gruen, author of At the Water’s Edge and Water for Elephants An epic, inspiring novel about one woman’s survival in the hardscrabble Italian countryside and her determination to protect her family throughout the Second World War—by any means possible Maria Vittoria is twenty-five when her father brings home the man who will become her husband. It is 1923 in the austere Italian mountain village where her family has lived for generations, and the man she sees is tall and handsome and has survived the First World War without any noticeable scars. Taking just the linens she has sewn that make up her dowry and a statue of the Madonna that sits by her bedside, Maria leaves the only life she has ever known to begin a family. But her future will not be what she imagines. The Madonna of the Mountains follows Maria over the next three decades, as she moves to the town where she and her husband become shopkeepers, through the birth of their five children, through the hardships and cruelties of the National Fascist Party Rule and the Second World War. Struggling with the cost of survival at a time when food is scarce and allegiances are questioned, Maria trusts no one and fears everyone—her Fascist cousin, the madwoman from her childhood, her watchful neighbors, the Nazis and the Partisans who show up hungry at her door. As Maria’s children grow up and her marriage endures its own hardships, she must hold her family together with resilience, love, and faith, until she makes a fateful decision that will change the course of all their lives. A sweeping saga about womanhood, loyalty, war, religion, family, food, motherhood, and marriage, The Madonna of the Mountains is a poignant look at the span of one woman’s life as the rules change and her world becomes unrecognizable. In depicting the great cost of war and the ineluctable power of time on a life, Elise Valmorbida has created an unforgettable portrait of a woman navigating both the unforeseen and the inevitable. Advance praise for Madonna of the Mountains “The moral and ethical questions raised propel the story beyond the particulars into the universal.”—Kirkus Reviews “It is a bewitching but entirely unsentimental portrait of one woman’s attempt to keep her family safe in turbulent times.”—The Times (UK), Book of the Month “A solid choice for readers who appreciate layered family sagas.”—Library Journal

Download or read book The Black Madonna written by Davis Bunn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the internationally acclaimed Gold of Kings, Storm Syrrell returns in the compelling story of The Black Madonna. Antiques expert Storm Syrrell heads to Europe to investigate the clandestine trade in religious artifacts. She dismisses superstitious tales of miraculous healings and divine omens. Yet when an obsessive Russian oligarch calls—just as her friend Harry Bennett vanishes—all assumptions must be cast aside. Storm seeks answers in a medieval monastery. There, the scarred visage of an icon provokes ever more startling questions. Is she prepared to confront both earthly and spiritual powers? Storm remains haunted by lessons in love and betrayal that lie just outside her grasp. But hesitation now holds mortal consequences.

Download or read book Bright Dark Madonna written by Elizabeth Cunningham and published by Monkfish Book Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-14 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited paperback edition of the sequel to the best-selling novel The Passion of Mary Magdalen.

Download or read book The Madonna of Excelsior written by Zakes Mda and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2007-05-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new novel by a towering presence in contemporary South African literature In 1971, nineteen citizens of Excelsior in South Africa's white-ruled Free State were charged with breaking apartheid's Immorality Act, which forbade sex between blacks and whites. Taking this case as raw material for his alchemic imagination, Zakes Mda tells the story of a family at the heart of the scandal -and of a country in which apartheid concealed interracial liaisons of every kind. Niki, the fallen madonna, transgresses boundaries for the sake of love; her choices have repercussions in the lives of her black son and mixed-race daughter, who come of age in post-apartheid South Africa, where freedom prompts them to reexamine their country's troubled history at first hand. By turns earthy, witty, and tragic, The Madonna of Excelsior is a brilliant depiction of life in South Africa and of the dramatic changes between the 1970s and the present.

Download or read book The Happy Writing Book written by Elise Valmorbida and published by Laurence King Publishing. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'There are many guides to good writing but none as valuable as this.' Oliver Kamm, author and columnist for The Times Creative writing can enhance wellbeing, which can enhance creative writing, which can enhance wellbeing ... Become a better writer with over 100 inspiring prompts, insights and exercises specially devised by an award-winning author and creative writing teacher. Discover how the practice of creative writing - being expressive, exploring ideas, crafting words, shaping stories - can also deepen your appreciation of life.

Download or read book The Kitchen Madonna written by Rumer Godden and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A boy's efforts to create an icon to please the family's new maid helps him to make new friends and discover an artistic talent.

Download or read book Ski written by and published by . This book was released on 1982-12 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: