Well, it's book report time on Rumer Godden's _The Battle of the Villa Fiorita_, which I finished reading last night.
This is a fictional work about a woman (Fanny) who had an affair and was divorced by her husband. She went to live with the new man (Rob) in Italy and two of her children showed up to fetch her back where, in their opinion, she belonged.
So right from the set up you see that this is a book about sin, and that there is probably not going to be any way to have a happy ending. (No spoilers needed for that!) And, true to life, there wasn't. Everyone involved continued to receive ugly consequences and wounds from the sin that had occurred.
Unfortunately the author did not include any significant redemptive value to the story other than showing how the characters, especially the children, grew through their experiences. I found it a story well-told, but not a happy one, and am glad that these characters are not my real life friends, as my heart would hurt for all of them. This is in contrast to the same author's _In This House of Brede_, where I felt glad to know the characters as friends.
This is a fictional work about a woman (Fanny) who had an affair and was divorced by her husband. She went to live with the new man (Rob) in Italy and two of her children showed up to fetch her back where, in their opinion, she belonged.
So right from the set up you see that this is a book about sin, and that there is probably not going to be any way to have a happy ending. (No spoilers needed for that!) And, true to life, there wasn't. Everyone involved continued to receive ugly consequences and wounds from the sin that had occurred.
Unfortunately the author did not include any significant redemptive value to the story other than showing how the characters, especially the children, grew through their experiences. I found it a story well-told, but not a happy one, and am glad that these characters are not my real life friends, as my heart would hurt for all of them. This is in contrast to the same author's _In This House of Brede_, where I felt glad to know the characters as friends.
Hey, there, TobyBo! Long time no talk to.
ReplyDeleteJust want to say that I've only read one Rumer Godden book in my life, and that was "An Episode of Sparrows," which is one of my favorites. I would not have been interested in reading "The Battle of Villa Fiorita", but if you want a heartwarming read to balance out the dreadfulness, read the one I mentioned.
I will have to look into "In This House of Brede," though. RG is a skilled writer.
Thank you for the recommendation, dear friend. I will add it to my list, right now I'm reading _The Name of the Wind_, not my usual genre but the writing is phenomenal.
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