A Roman Rhapsody
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From the acclaimed author of Four Hundred and Forty Steps to the Sea and Under a Sardinian Sky comes a lyrical new novel set against a stunning Italian backdrop.
Famed for its natural beauty and rich history, Sardinia in 1968 is notorious, too, for the bandits who kidnap wealthy landowners for ransom. Eleven-year-old Alba Fresu’s brother, and her father, Bruno, are abducted by criminals who mistake Bruno for a rich man. After a grueling journey through the countryside, the two are eventually released—but the experience leaves Alba shaken and unable to readjust to normal life, or to give voice to her inner turmoil.
Accompanying her mother to cleaning jobs, Alba visits the villa of an eccentric signora and touches the keys of a piano for the first time. The instrument’s spell is immediate. During secret lessons, forbidden by her mother, Alba is at last able to express emotions too powerful for words alone. Ignoring her parents’ insistence that she work in the family’s car dealership and marry a local boy, Alba accepts a scholarship to the Rome Accademia. There she immerses herself in a vibrant world of art—and a passionate affair. But her path will lead her to a crossroads, where Alba will have to reconcile the past she fled with her longing for love and family to fully convey the music of her heart . . .
Praise for Sara Alexander’s Under a Sardinian Sky
“Alexander paints a loving and breathtaking picture of the Mediterranean island, especially glorious descriptions of food. For readers who enjoy women’s fiction set against a background of momentous events and clashing cultures.”
—Library Journal
“Will leave readers riveted until the explosive conclusion.”
—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alexander (Under a Sardinian Sky) once again weaves a story of family, food, and music off the coast of Italy in this animated portrait of the stubborn and often silent Alba Fresu. In 1968 in Ozieri, Sardinia, Alba's father and brother were kidnapped for their failure to repay loans. They are eventually released, but the trauma continues to define their forlorn family life as they must all work to pay off the debt. Alba's mother works cleaning the house of Signora Elias, a classical musician, and one day, when accompanying her mother, Alba is drawn to Signora Elias's piano. Realizing the "astonishing talent" of the little girl, Signora Elias negotiates secret lessons for the precocious child, whose mother believes Alba is delivering groceries during her morning visits. When Alba accepts entry into the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Alba and Signora Elias become "clasped in complicit trust like the two photographic faces of a snapped-shut locket." The only other person Alba truly trusts is Raffaele, her cousin, who provides Alba the money to escape after her parents refuse to entertain the idea of her leaving. Once at the academy, she meets Vittorio, a cellist, who steals her heart. In a final section set two decades later, Alba is an internationally renowned pianist and stars in a film with music composed by Vittorio. After a death in the family, she reluctantly returns to Ozieri to face her family and friends. Filled with sumptuous descriptions of the music and food of Sardinia, Alexander's pleasurable tale will appeal to fans of Louis de Bernieres's Corelli's Mandolin.
