I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention.

I was attracted to this book because it was based on the author's great-aunts survival of the 1908 eruption of Mt Etna, as I am a huge historical fiction fan.
Angela Lanza is left an orphan and doesn't know whether her sister has lived or died. Angela has a strict but loving upbringing in an orphanage run by nuns. They are instrumental in finding her a husband, Franco who is Italian but lives in the USA? A hard-working man, he made enough money to provide a home for them both in the USA.
We follow Angela as she adjusts to a busy USA having left her homeland on the brink of WW2. Her superior sewing skills, learnt while at the orphanage, help create an income for herself. But tragedies hound Angela and Franco. And all this while, the fate of her sister sits in the back of Angela's mind....is she alive or not? Visions and dreams muddle her thoughts. While bad things happen in her life, Angela is not a victim....she is a survivor. I hoped for the best for Angela throughout the book, but as often in real life, nothing spectacular came and acceptance of your situation in life means you just keep going, dealing with one day at a time.
Carmela Cattuti has written a book of strength, perseverance and acceptance; traits which often are sadly missing in today's fast paced world of instant gratification.

#BetweentheCracksOneWomansJourneyfromSicilytoAmerica #NetGalley

This was mostly a depressing story. It began with a young girl losing her family in a Sicilian earthquake. She lives in a convent doing needlework but has the chance to marry a man who had immigrated to the US. While there were some happy times after the marriage, the last half just has tragedy after tragedy. I appreciate the details and how it's based on a real life story, it was just very depressing to read.

The premise, at first sight, is a simple one.

Our protagonist, Angela, survives a tragedy that claims her family and begins her life in a convent. Before she can become a fully-realized nun however, she marries a Sicilian immigrant living in America, Franco.
The life is idyllic: her husband makes a lot of money and Angela herself is installed in a house he prepared for her and is quick to find a job she likes. She immediately becomes friends with her sister-in-law, who reminds Angela of her younger sister that she had lost.

However, not everything is as easy as it appears at first glance. Angela is still haunted by the memory of the tragic day when Mount Etna erupted. She’s certain her sister had survived and feels guilty because she’s certain that had she stayed in the convent a little longer, the sisters could have been reunited. After making peace with her past, new problems emerge with the people she loves. Sometimes, Angela’s own wit and determination is enough to overcome the obstacles, but more often than not the bad things happen and Angela has to find inner strength to live through them and help the others as best she can.

Angela is a fascinating character. Living at the time when women did not have much agenda, she is independent and resourceful, bent many times but never broken. Her husband, Franco, is an enjoyable character of his own, but he pales in comparison to his headstrong wife.

I found that I never for a moment did not enjoy Angela. She had not always been as submissive as other people wanted (whether her superiors in the convent or her husband). The side characters are vivid. The beginning of the book is slow but it picks up later and hardly leaves time to pause for breath.

An enjoyable short read about life in Sicily and The United States at the beginning of the 20th century.

The author wrote this novel based on her great-aunt's experiences after the 1908 Mt. Edna earthquake. The main character, Angela, is orphaned after the earthquake and is sent to a convent in Italy to be raised. Angela eventually meets the man she would marry, despite not knowing him well, and moves to the United States. This novel highlighted the strength that it must have taken for Angela to not only survive losing her whole family to tragedy, but to start over in a new Country with a man that she barely knows. This was a great read and I think part of my enjoyment came from knowing that it was based on a true story.