My first steps Down the Reader’s Road show me The Good Left Undone

As some of you may know, I was doing a trilogy themed reading challenge for most of this year but upon completing two out of the three sets of books for that project, I decided to pivot to a more achievable goal of reading down my TBR piles.

Thus named “Down The Reader’s Road”(yes, I enjoyed Agatha All Along very much!), I chose a number of my Book of the Month Club picks to tackle and the first one finished is The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani.

Thus multigenerational story introduces us to Matelda, an older woman living in the coastal village of Viareggio, Italy who is trying to preserve the family history for the next generation, particularly her granddaughter Anina currently engaged to be married.

Upon letting Anina chose a piece of heirloom jewelry as part of her engagement gift, Matelda finds herself sharing the story of her own mother Domenica, a woman well before her time who was determined to pursue a career in medicine and not hold back from doing what she believed to be right .

Her forthright approach got Domenica sent to France as a nurse and then later to Scotland just as WWII is gearing up. While over there, she meets John McVicars, a sea captain who becomes the love of her life and he hers:

This is more than just a love story, however; John comes to a tragic end after his marriage to Domenica due to being recruited to partake in the expulsion of Italian citizens from the United Kingdom as a pushback against Italy going forces with Germany.

These people considered themselves “Britalians”, loyal to their country despite their ancestry yet were punished for simply being who they were due to political reasons (a sentiment that is sadly still prevalent in the US today).

Trigiani chronicles this sad chapter in history as a natural element of the overall story without overwhelming the main narrative. She also skillfully showcases the emotional lives of her characters from one generation to the next in harmonious fashion, turning a tale of personal experiences into an universal meditation about accepting the challenges in life and making the best of the choices given unto you.

Granted, I had just finished rereading Trigiani’s Valentine series of novels before picking this one up, so perhaps I was in the right mindset to read this book at this time. However, even someone unfamiliar with her work would find much treasure to discover within these pages.

Ultimately, this is a book about one generation reaching out to another to appreciate what has been before and respect that knowledge on the road that lies ahead of them, something worth exploring at any time:

So, my next step on this bookish journey is Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo  and so far, this is one of those “what haven’t I read already?!” titles.

I’ve read TJR before (the latest being Carrie Soto is Back) but not this particular book , which chronicles the life and times of a renowned actress in Hollywood of the fifties and onward with her secrets being told to a potential biographer chosen for mysterious reasons.

It’s a lively and engaging book that I might finish by the year is out but no rush here. As they say, it’s not about the destination, it’s the journey and I intend to take the scenic route indeed: