Lemon Blossoms
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- $23.99
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
2016 Finalist for Romance, Foreword INDIE
Angelica Domenico is born in a blossoming lemon grove, a prophetic fusion of sweet bloom and bitter fruit on an island governed by volcanoes and earthquakes.
In the continuation of Nina Romano’s epic Wayfarer Trilogy, an early childhood accident propels Angelica to battle trials in a world where proof of virginity is paramount. She suff ers the trauma of her aunt’s death in childbirth and is catapulted on a voyage towards the nunnery to seek refuge from a fear of intimacy. Fate intervenes on the Feast of Crucifixion when Giacomo Scimenti enters the family shop, and Angelica feels herself rent by lightning the instant they come face to face.
Lemon Blossoms is the story of Angelica’s struggle in pursuit of feminine identity and heritage while coping with the intricacies of loss, love, and yearning.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Romano's (The Secret Language of Women) ode to motherhood, set in late 19th-century Italy, is both beautifully detailed and maddeningly disjointed. This second book in her Wayfarer trilogy follows Angelica, the oldest daughter of a Sicilian family; she is the child of a prosperous farmer and a midwife. At 14, an accident during her aunt's pregnancy sets Angelica on a path of self-discovery as she considers whether she should assume a traditional role within the family or give herself over to a convent. Told in vignettes beginning during Angelica's childhood, the story chronicles her path to adulthood as seen through her eyes and those of her mother. Lovingly detailed scenes of the Italian countryside are, unfortunately, not enough to balance the slow-paced psychological wrangling and occasionally confusing succession of scenes. The rocky narrative stutters between the eloquently philosophical and the patently unbelievable. Emotional and poignant moments of discovery are frequently overshadowed by seemingly random leaps between narrators and an exaggerated focus on minor details.
