My thanks to both NetGalley and the Publisher Penguin Group Dutton for an advanced copy of this historical novel.

Historical fiction can tell much more that just a fictional story. People can learn more about the past and how people lived and in some cases survived if the reader is engaged in a story featuring characters they care about, than by being lectured to. And if their isn't a quiz after. Adriana Trigiani has much to teach us in her book The Good Left Undone, about art, love, life, secrets and lies, and what the past can teach us and what we never ever seem to learn.

The novel tells the story of the women in the Cabrelli family over many generations, from he 1920's through World War II and up to the present day of a country in lockdown. The story ranges in time and points of view, with the theme of love and family. And secrets. Secrets that can poison relationships and strain families, more for keeping the truth buried, rather than the truth itself.

Ms. Trigiani has a real gift for writing characters in her novel, making each one distinctive with a clear narrative voice. There is a lot of time jumping and switching of points of view, but nothing that will confuse the reader or lose the reader. The scenes featuring the Italian countryside will make one want to visit or live there, but it is the history and background of the characters that I found the most intriguing. The treatment of Italians in Britain during the War was something that I was unfamiliar with. As were some of the real historical events covered in the story that affected the characters in a variety of ways.

Another great story by a very good writer, who easily balances characters, eras and events with a story that keeps the reader interested and furthermore caring. Recommended for readers who enjoy Kristen Hannah, or Lisa Scottoline or if readers enjoy large sprawling generational sagas about strong women.

This popular author probably has another bestseller on her hands. I wanted to like it, but I found it dull and the conversations unrealistic. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Adriana Trigiani brings us a wonderful family saga set in Italy over multiple time periods. The matriarch, Matelda tells her granddaughter the story of Domenica, Matelda's mother, and her loves and losses. We get glimpses of Matelda's life and her granddaughter Anina's life, but the focus is really on Domenica. Domenica is a strong woman, and you see her grow from adolescence. You will love her and your heart will ache for her. In addition to the beautiful family saga, this book also gives details on how Italians were treated in Great Britain during WWII. I had no idea. There is even a part about how Jewish Italians were treated in Italy. While these scenes seem separate from the overall story, they are well fleshed out and show the horrors of how Italians were treated during the War. It makes the story more poignant. Once again Trigiani has given us an exceptional story featuring an Italian family, and I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Adriana Trigiani’s latest novel, The Good Left Undone, is slated for publication by Penguin Random House in April 2022. The book is a wonderful read for anyone yearning to return to Italy’s vibrant life and culture.

I was delighted to receive a pre-publication review copy of the book and discovered that much of the story is set in Viareggio, the southernmost beach town in Versilia on the Italian Riviera, about 20 minutes south of Forte dei Marmi.

The storyline

This sweeping historical novel tells the gripping intergenerational story of the Cabrelli family and its matriarch Matelda. It begins in present day Viareggio, a beachside Tuscan town on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, best known for its famous Carnival.

The narrative transports the reader from Italy to France, to Scotland and back, and seamlessly moves in time between the present and past. As it begins, Matelda is reaching the end of her life, commenting how old age is “a box of surprises and not the good kind” although she feels blessed to have evaded the present-day coronavirus pandemic that hobbled Bergamo in the north.


She comments that a family is “only as strong as their stories” (including their secrets) and we learn hers—as she recounts them to her granddaughter, Anina. As the Cabrelli family history unfolds, we learn how it was shaped by both world events (including the war) and interpersonal ones.

Matelda warns readers that time passes quickly as the years progress: This epic novel (over 450 pages long) so fully immerses a reader in the lives of the characters and settings, that they, too, are likely to lament that Matelda’s life and the novel ends too soon.

Traveling back in time to the 1930s

We learn that as a young woman, Matelda’s mother, Domenica, fell in love with her best friend Silvio Birtolini, a local boy labeled and taunted as the “town bastard.” That shame was hard to shake at the time and the close friendship between the two ended when Silvio moved to Parma for a better life away from the gossip. Domenica remained in Viareggio, training to become a nurse in the office of a local doctor.

When she boldly attempted to offer family planning advice to a woman who was abused by her husband, she, too, was driven out of the provincial town for her progressive opinions.

To continue to pursue her career, Domenica found work as a nurse in Marseille in 1939, and then in a convent in Glasgow, Scotland, just before the outbreak of World War II. However, she felt uprooted and terribly isolated from her family and the seaside.

In France, she fell in love with a Scottish seaman, John Lawrie McVicars, and was reminded of her mother’s admonition, “When you marry a man from your own village, you know how he salts his food.” This marriage was blessed with love, although ultimately ill-fated.

The ravages of the war, both in Italy and in Scotland, are described in the narrative. Italian Scots were branded as Britalians and discriminated against much like Jews. When Germany attacked France, Mussolini allied with the Germans against England and France, and all hell broke loose leading to mass deportations of Italians from England and Scotland.

The torpedoing of the SS Arandora Star during the war (an actual event that took place in 1940) led to the death of McVicars and Domenica became a single mother when she gave birth to Matelda after his death.

Domenica spends five years yearning to return to Viareggio. Hoping to share its beauty with her young daughter, she discovers that during the time when she was abroad, Mussolini stripped Viareggio of all its riches. “Poor Viareggio. The war had stolen her beauty for an enemy who did not value it.”

Matelda ultimately finds great happiness, which makes for a satisfying ending for the reader.

A must-read for Italophiles

I delighted in reading about Tuscan traditions and foods, and learning more about the history of Viareggio and war-torn Italy in the 40s. This masterfully-told tale is rich in detail with well-developed characters. It also conveys a strong sense of place; you can almost feel the fog coming from the sea after the summer season.

The Good Left Undone portrays the pivotal role strong women play in keeping families together, and reaffirms the Italian reverence for family above all else in life.

About Adriana Trigiani

New Yorker and Italian-American Adriana Trigiani is a New York Times bestselling author of twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Shoemaker’s Wife. Her books have been published in thirty-eight languages around the world. This talented and prolific author has published a novel every year since 2000.

The Good Left Undone is available for pre-order on Amazon.

IF YOU GO

Viareggio is in the province of Lucca. Its traditional Carnival, which began in 1873, is one of the most important ones in Italy. With a parade of colorful floats and masks, Typically held at the end of February, it takes place on the towns Liberty-style boardwalk and lasts for 15 days. The Carnival was stopped for the second World War and resumed in 1946.

Read more about the history and traditions of the Carnevale di Viareggio.
Read more about tourism in Viareggio on the website of the regional tourism office,

I have missed reading Adrian Trigiani, having been a huge fan of the Big Stone Gap series and I absolutely loved this epic family drama set within an Italian family. It was so absorbing that I felt I was there and was transported by the descriptions of the events, places, food and characters. Everything wonderfully described and characters that you will never forget.

Adriana Trigiani never disappoints! An amazing book of historical fiction that swept me away following the Cabrelli family through generations and events in time. I couldn’t put it down.

Adriana Trigiani has once again transported her readers into another time and place. Following the lives of various generations of the Cabrelli family, Trigani takes the readers through the 1920s, World War II and modern day Italy and Scotland. Along the way, we are treated to descriptive language so enthralling that the reader cannot help but be transported to the exact place and time through all of their senses. The characters' individual personalities shine through, whether they are likable or not, but always consistent to each character's personal history. Trigiani seamlessly weaves each generation's story into the next and keeps the pages turning. How the youngest generation will find a way to continue with the family's traditions remains to be seen and we can ol=nly hope for a continuation of the Cabrelli family story.

Adriana Trigiani can always be counted on for a spectacular escape into a different world. I happily requested an ARC available through NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton the moment I saw it was available.
The Good Left Undone follows 3 generations of an Italian/Scottish family. Trigiani seamlessly weaves back and forth between their respective lives and relationships. The historical research and fact checking must have taken her ages, and her care for detail pays off for the reader. Reading this book was a vivid experience for me, and I devoured it quickly.
Highly recommended.

An epic historical fiction that spans a century, the story draws you into the life of the Cabrelli family in Italy. The story goes back and forth in time and is beautifully written . A wonderful story - Adriani Trigiani has done it again ! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I really love this author and this doesn't disappoint

This is another novel about a family matriarch looking back on her life, with the plot moving between time periods and characters. In the present, Matelda is elderly and in declining health, being cared for especially by her grand daughter Anina. As their relationship develops, Anina encourages her grandmother to tell her story, so we learn about Matelda's mother Domenica, who becomes the focus of much of the plot. Domenica's journey starts in her childhood in the small Italian village, moves to the Marseille area and Scotland during World War II, and back to post-war Italy. Her childhood friend Silvio, her marriage to John McVicars, her nursing career, the plight of Italians in Great Britain during the War, are all intertwined throughout the book. It is obvious that Trigiani did very thorough research for this historical fiction, and many readers will appreciate all of the historical and cultural details, but I felt that the narrative could have been streamlined. A listing of the major characters and their time periods would have been helpful.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance digital copy of this title. The Good Left Undone weaves through three generations of the Carbelli family on the coast of Northern Italy. The story goes back and forth in time, and the events of World War II seem to be an additional character in the story. This is a family saga that is a quick read; with well-drawn characters, and beautifully described settings.

Matelda Cabrelli was the octogenarian matriarch of a family of jewelers in Viareggio in Tuscany. When she was faced with her own mortality, she decided it was time to reveal some dark secrets to her family.
Her mother, Domenica, had reached maturity after the end of the First World War. Domenica trained as a nurse.The local priest was enraged after Domenica told a patient about birth control methods.
The Catholic Church’s position was clear: no birth control and so the local priest had Domenica exiled from the town. It was at a hospital in Marseille where she met Captain McVickers, a Scottish sea captain. They fell in love and married in Scotland in 1940. Britain was then at war with Germany and Italy. So after a brief honeymoon, the Captain was assigned to a repurposed ocean liner transporting Italian and German detainees to Canada.
Tragedy struck and the Captain was killed. Domenica was left with a baby who she raised in at a convent in Scotland until the end of the war. Once they were able to return to Italy, Domenica and her 5 year old daughter, Matelda left Scotland. The war had left a lot of destruction in Italy but the Cabrelli family home was intact and the two of them were greeted warmly by the whole town.
Domenica reunited with a childhood friend, Silvio, and married him. He entered the family business and even took their last name as his own. Their life together was a happy one and Silvio raised Matelda as his own child.
This book explains how Mussolini’s soldiers mistreated the Italian people and destroyed their property. It also tells the shameful story of how the large Italian immigrant populations in Scotland and England were rounded up and placed in detention camps
The author vividly describes Tuscany and Scotland. She also explores the conflicts that occur in many close families. I enjoyed this book as much as I did other books that she has written.

This is a family saga spanning several generations that only a gifted storyteller like Adriana Trigiani can tell. Characters and settings come to life as she chronicles their love and hardships while enabling us to visualize the time and place. This multi-generational story reveals past loves and secrets in the hopes of strengthening the family unit. The author does not disappoint and this is another book to be added to her wonderful collection.#TheGoodLeftUndone #AdrianaTrigiani #NetGalley

"The Good Left Undone" is an epic tale of Italians in love and at war, both in Italy and in exile. The action centres around multiple generations of one family who live on the coast in the north, close to Lucca. The struggles of life are shown both in peacetime and wartime, complicated by Italy changing sides in WW2. The treatment of Italians, some second and third generation, living in the UK was nearly as bad as the Nazi's treatment of Jews, except that they were only incarcerated and not intentionally killed. There was however an assumption that there is no such thing as a good Italian, even when they have lived in the UK all there life. This is an age old attitude concerning any "foreigner"which has echoed down the centuries all around the world.

At the heart of everything though is the Italian closeness (mostly) of family, with the younger generations caring for their elders. This happens throughout the story and is a lesson to all at this time of crisis in the care sector. As always a well written and very readable book from Adriana Trigiani.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

Another nice family saga from Adriana Trigiani. A nice story that historical fiction and women literature will enjoy.

I adore Adriana. She is the best storyteller. In this story she weaves setting, character and story in a complex plot that will stay in my heart

The Good Left Undone is a beautiful, sweeping family saga that spans from before WWII to today. I fell in love with the multi-generations of the Cabrelli family from Domenica to Matelda to Nicolina to Anina, This book is the best kind of family novel with small jealousies, family mysteries, favorite children, but overriding all is love. Adriana Trigiani is such a beautiful writer. You can taste the delicious Italian food, feel the warm Italian sun on your face, as well as the cold wind of Scotland through your body. This book is a treasure to read slowly and enjoy all the way through.

As a new mom, my time is at a premium right now; reading has been largely pushed to the back burner in favor of raising a baby. (When baby sleeps, mom is supposed to sleep...right?) I've loved all of Adriana's books, but I've always told people that The Shoemaker's Wife was my favorite.

Not anymore.

Reading this book was like eating an exceptionally decadent serving of tiramisu - rich with detail, wonderfully textured, and completely satisfying. I was delighted to be given the chance to read The Good Left Undone and I found myself staying up ridiculously late, diving into chapter after chapter of Adriana's incredible work. I came away feeling simultaneously thrilled with the masterful storytelling and sad that it had come to an end. Adriana wove the history of Matelda Cabrelli and her mother, Domenica, presenting readers with a vibrant tapestry of one family's history, complete with love, tragedy, and triumph. I can't wait for the book to be published so I can purchase a copy, reread it, and share it with everyone I know.

Full of wonderful descriptions of setting and character, The Good Left Undone is a family epic spanning 4 generations of one family. Trigiani's gift for language is on full display. Long-time fans will love this tale.