It Takes a Lifetime to Learn How to Live

<p><strong style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)><em>It Takes a Lifetime to Learn How to Live</em></strong><span style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)> is an intimate multigenerational Italian American memoir immersed in the legacies of secrets silence and sacrifice of Southern Italy. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)>In 1915 Carmela leaves the remote village of Rotondella. Her daughter Laura grows up determined to sever the past in an effort to be fully American. But decades later when her life collapses Laura's daughter-the memoir's narrator-sets off alone to Italy in search of truth and belonging. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)>Her journey leads her back to her ancestral village where she finds the open arms of family-and also uncovers the lingering shadows of the </span><em style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)>malocchio omertà</em><span style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)> rigid Catholicism and a past of abject poverty arranged marriage patriarchal control the Mafia and a suspicion of sexual abuse. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(54 83 82 1)>She begins to understand how these forces shaped not only her grandmother's life but also her mother's-and her own. By honoring the courage of the women who came before her to risk and endure she finds the grace to forgive to heal to make peace with her mother and ultimately to come home to herself.</span></p><p></p>