Sarina Amato lives with her family in Vigliatore, Messina
She is a fisherman's daughter, a house
slave, working non-stop doing the chores ordered by her
father. Helping her mother care for the house and her
siblings, while receiving abuse from her father is her
life.
He has become more abusive to her as she gets older, using
his
belt to hit her across the face and beating her body with
no
mercy. He also ties her to a tree and leaves her outside
all
night as a punishment. Her days are grueling and she
never
stops working. Her only time for herself, is night, when
everyone is asleep and she would sneak down to the beach
to
sing. She loved to sing. She made up songs and staring
at
the sky filled with stars, she would sing about STELLA
MIA, my
star. It helped ease her pain but she knew she had to
leave
home soon and escape from her Papa. His beatings were
becoming worse and she was fearful he would kill her.
On her seventeenth birthday, on the feast day of Patron
Saint
Anthony, Sarina makes her escape. She boards a bus with
money
stolen from her Papa and heads to the coastal resort town
of
Taormina. It is the jewel of the Mediterranean but offers
Sarina no employment. She lives on the beach there and is
taken in by a band of gypsies who teach her to read the
Tarot
cards and gives them half of her earnings. One day while
reading cards for a young man, he tries to rape her and is
saved by Carlo, a very handsome, charming man. They are
instantly attracted to each other.
One day while visiting, Angela, the owner of the bakery
who
befriended Sarina when she had no more money and no job,
she
gave her bread and her friendship. Angela hears that
they
are looking for a singer at the very opulent Villa
Carlotta.
Silvano Conti is the owner, mean and a shrewd businessman,
but after hearing Sarina sing, he hires her, giving her a
room
at the Villa and a good salary. She wowed the audiences
and
business begin to boom as she performed. One night she
saw a
handsome man watching her from the bar and it was Carlo,
who
introduced himself as the owner's son. Needless to say,
his
father would not be pleased with his attraction for Sarina
and
eventually he discovers their secret. He threatens to
disinherit Carlo , tells her they are from two different
worlds and convinces her to leave without even a goodbye
to
Carlo.
Looking at the beautiful cover of STELLA MIA tells it all.
Stunning views high above the coastline of Sicily, a
romantic
table is set with local wine and two glasses waiting for
the
lovers. The adventure takes us from Taormina to the
Aeolian
Islands: Isola Bella, Lipari, Panarea, Filicuda to
Stromboli.
Ms.Chiofalo's descriptions are so vivid and alive you feel
the
refreshing swims, taste the cold local wine and feast on
the
fresh baked bread and pastries.
STELLA MIA is a book you can not put down. Love,
sacrifice,
struggles between mothers and daughters, dreams fulfilled,
some unfulfilled, choices that span from Italy, to America
and
back to Sicily for a bittersweet ending. Fantastico!
Rosanna Chiofalo's poignant, beautifully written new novel
evokes the stunning scenery of Sicily and the Aeolian
Islands and tells of mothers and daughters, love and
sacrifice--and the choices that resound across continents
and through generations.
Julia Parlatone doesn't have much to remember her Italian
mother by. A grapevine that Sarina planted still
flourishes
in the backyard of Julia's childhood home in Astoria,
Queens. And there's a song, "Stella Mia," she recalls her
mother singing--my star, my star, you are the most
beautiful
star--until the day she left three-year-old Julia behind
and
returned to Italy for good.
Now a happily married school teacher, Julia tries not to
dwell on a past she can't change or on a mother who chose
to
leave. But in an old trunk in the family basement, she
discovers items that belonged to her mother--a song book,
Tarot cards, a Sicilian folk costume--and a diary. Sarina
writes unflinchingly of her harsh childhood and of a
first,
passionate love affair;of blissful months spent living in
the enchanting coastal resort town of Taormina and the
unspoiled Aeolian Islands north of Sicily as well as the
reasons she came to New York. By the diary's end, Julia
knows she must track down her mother in Italy and piece
together the rest of the complex, bittersweet truth--a
journey that, for better or worse, will change her own
life
forever.
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