Genre Fiction
![Adriana Trigiani - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001ILOB3C.jpg)
The Good Left Undone: A Novel
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"[An] immersive saga. . . . A celebration of family and a paean to the power of storytelling."-People, "Book of the Week"
"Trigiani conveys the beauty of Italy, the hardships of war, the taste of family recipes, and the enduring love of family."-Library Journal (starred)
"The beauty of any book by Adriana Trigiani is her ability to interweave life and fiction. . . . Don't miss your chance to take this unforgettable journey with the Cabrelli women!" -Lisa Wingate, Book of the Month
From "a master of visual and palpable detail" (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns.
Matelda, the Cabrelli family's matriarch, has always been brusque and opinionated. Now, as she faces the end of her life, she is determined to share a long-held secret with her family about her own mother's great love story: with her childhood friend, Silvio, and with dashing Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, the father Matelda never knew. . . .
In the halcyon past, Domenica Cabrelli thrives in the coastal town of Viareggio until her beloved home becomes unsafe when Italy teeters on the brink of World War II. Her journey takes her from the rocky shores of Marseille to the mystical beauty of Scotland to the dangers of wartime Liverpool-where Italian Scots are imprisoned without cause-as Domenica experiences love, loss, and grief while she longs for home. A hundred years later, her daughter, Matelda, and her granddaughter, Anina, face the same big questions about life and their family's legacy, while Matelda contemplates what is worth fighting for. But Matelda is running out of time, and the two timelines intersect and weave together in unexpected and heartbreaking ways that lead the family to shocking revelations and, ultimately, redemption.
"[An] immersive saga. . . . A celebration of family and a paean to the power of storytelling."-People, "Book of the Week"
"Trigiani conveys the beauty of Italy, the hardships of war, the taste of family recipes, and the enduring love of family."-Library Journal (starred)
"The beauty of any book by Adriana Trigiani is her ability to interweave life and fiction. . . . Don't miss your chance to take this unforgettable journey with the Cabrelli women!" -Lisa Wingate, Book of the Month
From "a master of visual and palpable detail" (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns.
Matelda, the Cabrelli family's matriarch, has always been brusque and opinionated. Now, as she faces the end of her life, she is determined to share a long-held secret with her family about her own mother's great love story: with her childhood friend, Silvio, and with dashing Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, the father Matelda never knew. . . .
In the halcyon past, Domenica Cabrelli thrives in the coastal town of Viareggio until her beloved home becomes unsafe when Italy teeters on the brink of World War II. Her journey takes her from the rocky shores of Marseille to the mystical beauty of Scotland to the dangers of wartime Liverpool-where Italian Scots are imprisoned without cause-as Domenica experiences love, loss, and grief while she longs for home. A hundred years later, her daughter, Matelda, and her granddaughter, Anina, face the same big questions about life and their family's legacy, while Matelda contemplates what is worth fighting for. But Matelda is running out of time, and the two timelines intersect and weave together in unexpected and heartbreaking ways that lead the family to shocking revelations and, ultimately, redemption.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for The Good Left Undone
"The Good Left Undone is deliciously told, with fully explored characters, mouthwatering descriptions of Italian food, and charming yet quirky towns. What's exceptional about the novel is how seamlessly she knits together different stories from many places and times, bringing it all together in one poignant and satisfying book. This is a gorgeously written story about intergenerational love and heartbreak, the futility of regret and the power of a life well lived. It's also a love letter to Italy and its beautiful and painful history."
-BookPage (starred)
"The beauty of any book by Adriana Trigiani is her ability to interweave life and fiction. This book is immersive, but it will also have you pausing to consider your own ancestors… or to seek them out. It's a testimony to the power of family and history, to the value of understanding where we came from. This epic tale is at once real and hopeful, filled with adventure, and yes… stories. Don't miss your chance to take this unforgettable journey with the Cabrelli women!"
-Lisa Wingate, Book of the Month
"The Good Left Undone is a poignant expose on the value of the unsung heroes in a multigenerational, working-class family, and through the power of story, author Adriana Trigiani reminds us that our own family stories are important."
-The New York Journal of Books
"[A] captivating historical novel."
-Bustle
"Adriana Trigiani never fails to sweep you away with her richly transportive prose. The Good Left Undone takes you through time and across the globe from the Italian coast to the Scottish Highlands as long-held secrets of the Cabrelli family come to light. An emotional and beautiful tale of family, love, and loss."
-Taylor Jenkins Reid
"The Good Left Undone is a sprawling, majestic historical fiction feast that spans countries and generations to find the heart and soul of a beautiful family. This is Adriana Trigiani at her best."
-
"The Good Left Undone is deliciously told, with fully explored characters, mouthwatering descriptions of Italian food, and charming yet quirky towns. What's exceptional about the novel is how seamlessly she knits together different stories from many places and times, bringing it all together in one poignant and satisfying book. This is a gorgeously written story about intergenerational love and heartbreak, the futility of regret and the power of a life well lived. It's also a love letter to Italy and its beautiful and painful history."
-BookPage (starred)
"The beauty of any book by Adriana Trigiani is her ability to interweave life and fiction. This book is immersive, but it will also have you pausing to consider your own ancestors… or to seek them out. It's a testimony to the power of family and history, to the value of understanding where we came from. This epic tale is at once real and hopeful, filled with adventure, and yes… stories. Don't miss your chance to take this unforgettable journey with the Cabrelli women!"
-Lisa Wingate, Book of the Month
"The Good Left Undone is a poignant expose on the value of the unsung heroes in a multigenerational, working-class family, and through the power of story, author Adriana Trigiani reminds us that our own family stories are important."
-The New York Journal of Books
"[A] captivating historical novel."
-Bustle
"Adriana Trigiani never fails to sweep you away with her richly transportive prose. The Good Left Undone takes you through time and across the globe from the Italian coast to the Scottish Highlands as long-held secrets of the Cabrelli family come to light. An emotional and beautiful tale of family, love, and loss."
-Taylor Jenkins Reid
"The Good Left Undone is a sprawling, majestic historical fiction feast that spans countries and generations to find the heart and soul of a beautiful family. This is Adriana Trigiani at her best."
-
Readers Top Reviews
M. Nocero
"I believe that to create great narratives for our lives, books are wondertul guides. In the Good Left Undone, the amazing artist Adriana Trigiani inspires all of us with a wonderful story of love and family that is sure to offer us hope during these times of uncertainty through the brokenness. Bravo Bella!" Meg Nocero, Author of Butterfly Awakens & The Magical Guide to Bliss
Diana L Elder
I just got the book, but I know it will be good because my cousin wrote it, and I’m so proud of her! ❤️
Ninette
Once again, Adriana Trigiani wrote novel that I could not put down the minute I started it. Adriana skillfully pieced together historical events, with Italian superstition, outdated church beliefs and family dynamics. The Good Left Undone starts with a story of Domenica, starting with a childhood friendship with Silvio, who born out of wedlock and scorned by local bullies. An incident influences Domenica to become a nurse, which is successful, until a woman came to her for advice on birth control. The woman’s husband, one of the village bullies not only confronted Domenica at the village carnival, he reported her to the local Catholic priest who insisted Dominica’s boss discipline. The punishment was to leave the village if she was to continue being a nurse. At first sent to France, where she worked at a Catholic hospital with nuns, then through world events leading up to World War II onto Scotland. While in France she meets and falls in love with a Scottish SeaCaptain, John. John’s mother intercepted letters from Domenica as she opposed to her son being involved with an Italian. Once Domenica and John learn the truth, they decided to get married. Soon after they were married, John had to report to duty, where his first assignment was to transport Italian enemies to a camp. It was on this assignment that he tragically dies. The novel goes beyond Domenica. There are so many characters in the book, each more interesting than the other. There are Domenica parents, who had a jewelry store that created jewels with hand cut stones, her daughter, as well as granddaughter (that continued the family business) and friends from the village. Trigiani has the talent to keeping the reader captivated. You actually learn a lot about history, feelings, and traditions from her words. Because of the historical events in Italy and Scotland, I recommended this book to anyone interested in Italian studies (events from WorldWarII) Always one of my favorite authors, I look forward to reading her books.
FRAN
As the recent loss of my 98 year old Mother lay heavy on my heart, I immersed myself in Adriana Trigiani’s latest novel. Three of my grandparents were born in San Piero Patti located on a mountaintop in Provincia Messina, Sicily. Each had a unique story behind their voyage to America. It is ironic how their life stories parallel those of some of the characters in this book between arranged marriages, unsanctioned marriages between classes, early widowhood, the role of the Roman Catholic Church and redemption. Paramount in each tale was the role of the family in my story as well as in the characters in this book. Although my Mother’s memory was faltering in her last days, she was still able to sing bawdy Italian songs along with me as well as “Tea for Two”. I remembered how she and my Father danced hundreds of times to “their song”. Even in her sleep towards the end, she would whisper the last line “Can’t you see how happy we will be” over and over again. I am still harboring some of the tales of abuse my grandmothers told only me in secret. Now, as a grandmother, and after reading this beautiful book, I am wondering if it is time to write down some of these tales or to set them free.
Short Excerpt Teaser
CHAPTER 2
The village of Viareggio was set on the shores of the Liguarian Sea, on the cusp of Il Tirreno Mare, south of the Gulf of Genoaand north of the Amalfi coast. The candy-colored villas with a view of the sea were shaded by a grove of pine trees with tall, spindly trunks topped by bouffants of green foliage. Viareggio Beach unfurled on the west coast of Italy like a rope of emeralds.
The scents of charred eucalyptus wood and sulfur lingered inthe air as Matelda climbed the rickety steps to the boardwalk. Carnevale had officially ended the night before when the fireworks turned to ash in the black sky. The last of the tourists had left the beach before sunrise. The pink Ferris wheel was still. The carousel horses were frozen in midair. The only sound she heard was the flap of the tarps over the empty vendor stands.
Alone on the boardwalk, Matelda leaned against the railing, where she observed curls of smoke from the abandoned firepits onthe beach drifting up to the heavens like offerings. The overcast sky blurred into the horizon, where it became one with the silver sea. She heard the blare of a foghorn as a sleek ocean liner appeared in the distance, rippling the surf in streaks of foam. The graceful ship glided past, pulling the banner of daybreak over the water. All her life, Matelda waited for the great ships and considered spotting one good luck. She couldn't remember where she learned it; it was something she always knew.
Come back, Matelda thought as the white ship with a maroon hull and midnight blue trim sailed south. Too late. The ship was on its way to somewhere warm. Matelda was done with winter. It would not be long until the turquoise waves returned under a cloudless sky in springtime. How she looked forward to walks on the beach when the weather was warm.
Matelda typically took a short stroll after church in the morning to shop for the day's meals, and a long walk in the afternoon to think. These rituals had shaped her days in the last chapter of her life, after she retired from her book keeping position at Cabrelli Jewelers. Matelda took the time to get her house in order. She didn't want to leave her children with the stacks of paperwork and rooms of furniture her parents had left behind after they died. She wanted to prepare her children for the inevitable as best she could.
Perhaps Matelda felt blessed having dodged the virus that had hobbled Bergamo to the north-after all, a virus that targets the elderly certainly had her number. She was sanguine about the situation because she had no choice. Fate was a wrecking ball. She didn't know when it would swing through to do its damage; she was only certain, from experience, that it would.
The habit of examining her conscience, instilled by the nuns when she was a child, hadn't left her. Matelda reflected on past hurts done to her and took stock of those she had perpetrated on others. Toscans might live in the moment, but the past lived in them. Even if that weren't true, there were reminders tucked in every corner of her hometown. She knew Viareggio and its people as well as she knew her own body; in a sense, they were one.
The mood turned grim in the village as the revelry of Carnevale ended and Lent began. The next forty days would be a somber time of reflection, fasting, and penance. Lent had felt like it lasted an eternity when she was a girl. Easter Sunday could not come soon enough. The day of relief. "You cannot have the joy of Easter Sunday without the agony of Good Friday," her mother reminded them. "No cross, no crown," she'd say in a dialect only her children understood.
The resurrection of the Lord redeemed the village and set the children free. Black sacks were pulled off the statues of the saints.The bare altar was decorated anew with myrtle and daisies. Plain broth for sustenance during the fast was replaced with sweet bread.The scents of butter, orange zest, and honey as Mama kneaded the dough for Easter bread during Holy Week lifted their spirits. The taste of the soft egg bread, braided into loaves served hot from the oven and drenched in honey, meant the sacrifice was over, at least until next year. Matelda recalled a particular Pranzo di Pasqua with every member from both sides of the family in attendance. Papa constructed one long dining table out of wooden doors so the entire family could sit together at the meal. Mama had covered the table in a yellow cloth and decorated it with baskets of her fresh bread.
"We are one," her father said as he lifted his glass. Soon, the cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings raised their glasses with him.There had been many happy moments in Matelda's life, but that particular Easter Sunday after the war was significant. If her memory ever failed her com...
The village of Viareggio was set on the shores of the Liguarian Sea, on the cusp of Il Tirreno Mare, south of the Gulf of Genoaand north of the Amalfi coast. The candy-colored villas with a view of the sea were shaded by a grove of pine trees with tall, spindly trunks topped by bouffants of green foliage. Viareggio Beach unfurled on the west coast of Italy like a rope of emeralds.
The scents of charred eucalyptus wood and sulfur lingered inthe air as Matelda climbed the rickety steps to the boardwalk. Carnevale had officially ended the night before when the fireworks turned to ash in the black sky. The last of the tourists had left the beach before sunrise. The pink Ferris wheel was still. The carousel horses were frozen in midair. The only sound she heard was the flap of the tarps over the empty vendor stands.
Alone on the boardwalk, Matelda leaned against the railing, where she observed curls of smoke from the abandoned firepits onthe beach drifting up to the heavens like offerings. The overcast sky blurred into the horizon, where it became one with the silver sea. She heard the blare of a foghorn as a sleek ocean liner appeared in the distance, rippling the surf in streaks of foam. The graceful ship glided past, pulling the banner of daybreak over the water. All her life, Matelda waited for the great ships and considered spotting one good luck. She couldn't remember where she learned it; it was something she always knew.
Come back, Matelda thought as the white ship with a maroon hull and midnight blue trim sailed south. Too late. The ship was on its way to somewhere warm. Matelda was done with winter. It would not be long until the turquoise waves returned under a cloudless sky in springtime. How she looked forward to walks on the beach when the weather was warm.
Matelda typically took a short stroll after church in the morning to shop for the day's meals, and a long walk in the afternoon to think. These rituals had shaped her days in the last chapter of her life, after she retired from her book keeping position at Cabrelli Jewelers. Matelda took the time to get her house in order. She didn't want to leave her children with the stacks of paperwork and rooms of furniture her parents had left behind after they died. She wanted to prepare her children for the inevitable as best she could.
Perhaps Matelda felt blessed having dodged the virus that had hobbled Bergamo to the north-after all, a virus that targets the elderly certainly had her number. She was sanguine about the situation because she had no choice. Fate was a wrecking ball. She didn't know when it would swing through to do its damage; she was only certain, from experience, that it would.
The habit of examining her conscience, instilled by the nuns when she was a child, hadn't left her. Matelda reflected on past hurts done to her and took stock of those she had perpetrated on others. Toscans might live in the moment, but the past lived in them. Even if that weren't true, there were reminders tucked in every corner of her hometown. She knew Viareggio and its people as well as she knew her own body; in a sense, they were one.
The mood turned grim in the village as the revelry of Carnevale ended and Lent began. The next forty days would be a somber time of reflection, fasting, and penance. Lent had felt like it lasted an eternity when she was a girl. Easter Sunday could not come soon enough. The day of relief. "You cannot have the joy of Easter Sunday without the agony of Good Friday," her mother reminded them. "No cross, no crown," she'd say in a dialect only her children understood.
The resurrection of the Lord redeemed the village and set the children free. Black sacks were pulled off the statues of the saints.The bare altar was decorated anew with myrtle and daisies. Plain broth for sustenance during the fast was replaced with sweet bread.The scents of butter, orange zest, and honey as Mama kneaded the dough for Easter bread during Holy Week lifted their spirits. The taste of the soft egg bread, braided into loaves served hot from the oven and drenched in honey, meant the sacrifice was over, at least until next year. Matelda recalled a particular Pranzo di Pasqua with every member from both sides of the family in attendance. Papa constructed one long dining table out of wooden doors so the entire family could sit together at the meal. Mama had covered the table in a yellow cloth and decorated it with baskets of her fresh bread.
"We are one," her father said as he lifted his glass. Soon, the cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings raised their glasses with him.There had been many happy moments in Matelda's life, but that particular Easter Sunday after the war was significant. If her memory ever failed her com...
