Book Blurb:
Piemonte, 1882
After Bastiàn De Angelis is found dead and his son flees to Argentina with the family’s wealth, Bastiàn’s daughter Maria must grapple with the aftermath. Largely abandoned to the vicissitudes of fortune, she is torn between protecting her own independence and navigating the expectations imposed upon her by a rural, patriarchal society heavily influenced by the church.
When Maria eventually decides to marry, her choice heralds both joy—in the shape of her children—and torment, as she becomes the victim of domestic violence, faces depredation and illness, and seeks to defend what is hers in the face of overpowering odds.
In a newly unified Italy, where suspicion of central authority runs deep and revolution is an ever-present danger, the inhabitants of Maria’s Piemontese community must deal with the outbreak of war and the demands of the government in Rome. With their losses mounting, natural disasters and disease add to their torment until Maria is forced to confront the unceasing violence engulfing her own home. Battered—but unbroken—Maria will emerge from these trials with a new strength, only to face further ordeals as her children begin to chart their own futures in an uncertain world.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/kvFf
Author Bio:
Vivien Ferrars is the pen name of a retired academic and clinician who started her professional life teaching literature and, later, interdisciplinary studies at Harvard, U.C. Berkeley and the U. of Chicago. She also lectured at Rhodes University in South Africa during the Apartheid era, and was later a visiting professor at the Universidad Central de Ecuador.
Her international life experience and her intellectual curiosity combined to focus her attention on the strained coexistence, throughout human history, of biological drives and spiritual yearnings, and on the interplay of ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ in the shaping alike of individual character, cultural identity, and social norms. Her series of articles on the impact of family and cultural dynamics on a person’s sense of self and life-view was published in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis in the 1980s.
Throughout her adult life, she kept notebooks of stories she planned to write upon retirement. She began to write first drafts of the novels that eventually became the Of Human Vice and Valor saga some twelve years ago. Her stories are fictional explorations of the human dilemmas she encountered over and over again in personal life and in clinical practice.
An inveterate gardener and life-long nature and animal lover, she chose, whenever possible, to live in the country, sharing with her husband her passion for skiing, mountain climbing, travel, safaris, and horseback touring in exotic places. For many years ‘home’ was her Massachusetts horse farm.
She now lives with her husband of 40-odd years in a bucolic retirement village in the Virginia mountains, having recently returned with their two cats from a last and prolonged stint of African adventures.
Editorial Review:
S èt Nòrie was a hard-earned tribute to Sebastiàn De Angelis— Bastiàn, as he was known to all but officialdom—and he basked in its glory, in its productive wealth.
It was a substantial holding; no longer just a big farm, but a real tenuta, an estate. He had built it, small farm by small farm. Or, perhaps more accurately, small well by small well.
Those wells may well have been the main source of his success, since on each newly acquired small farm, he had replaced the usual rope-and-bucket type of well with an efficient modern nòria. He had managed to acquire each one of those small, often barely viable farms by sheer hard work and determination—the determination to prove to prosperous Monsù Carpeni that his upstart son-in-law, reluctantly accepted at his daughter’s insistence, had been well worth the gamble.
Vivien Ferrars' gripping historical fiction book The Accursed takes place in the beautiful but turbulent area of Piemonte, Italy in 1882. This novel skillfully tells the story of a family, societal struggle, and resiliency in a newly united Italy. It is the first of a promising trilogy and will pull you in from the start.
We feel drawn in at The Accursed's opening lines right away, which exude mystery and dread. Ferrars introduces the De Angelis family's predicament in a way that is both compelling and evocative, deftly setting the scene in medieval Piemonte. The foundation for a story that continuously holds the reader's attention is laid by this powerful opening.
The book also has a glossary right at the beginning, which will be very helpful for reading and understanding the rest of the book. I appreciated it being at the start of the book versus in the back.
The protagonist of the tale is Maria De Angelis, who finds herself in a world full of difficulties following the passing of her brother and father. Maria's journey, including her battles against cultural expectations, spousal abuse, and the larger upheavals of a nation undergoing change, is masterfully portrayed by Ferrars. The story is intricate and multi-layered, delving deeply into the character struggles and the intricacies of the time period.
The girls worked side by side in Ghitinòt’s bedroom, close to the window where the afternoon light was best. They chatted as they plied their needles, revisiting school memories and exchanging news of absent friends. They canvassed the local gossip as to who was seeing whom, who was engaged to whom, whose banns had been read in church, and which girls might have their eye on their brothers—or, indeed, which girls might have caught their brothers’ eyes. They were prattling on companionably, feet propped up on foot stools, when a sudden clatter of bells at the farm gate shattered their peaceful intimacy.
Startled, both girls sprung to their feet and strained against the windowpane. They saw the two farmhands stare at the gate, tools in hand, and then Monsù and Madama Garis emerge from the farm’s office.
“Don’t just stand there!” Monsù Garis barked at one of the lads in the yard. “Go see who’s at the gate!
The book has clear formatting and has been carefully edited, making it easier to read. I appreciate how the dialogue is done well, making it easier to follow along, and adding to the story and the personalities of each character. The great editing process also guarantees that readers can fully engross themselves in the narrative. This is essential in historical fiction, and well done in this particular book. Another asset to this book is character development.
Ferrars' skill at creating multifaceted personalities is one of her advantages. Among them, Maria is a particularly well-developed character, showing both her strength and her weaknesses with subtlety and depth. Her character development as she overcomes social and personal obstacles is incredibly compelling and believable.
The book keeps a tight feeling of coherence throughout, skillfully combining separate narratives with historical occurrences in a nice timeline that is easy to follow and understand. The author is able to maintain a seamless narrative despite the intricate plot and rich historical setting.
His victims were the same game he had snared and trapped for years, such as the hare, the pheasant, the occasional fox. But this winter, with his pa away four days a week and access to a shotgun, he had held the power to kill in his own hands. The power of life or death in his own hands. His victims were not just found, dead or dying, in the treacherous gin he still used, but now despised. They had passed from life to death in an instant, with every shot he fired. Life turned to death at a squeeze of his finger!
And there was another difference: the violence that had exploded in the woods throughout the winter months was no longer for simple material gain, be it food or coin. His killing that winter was no mere hunting instinct. He killed game, but his ‘real’ target was not the game he killed. To him, killing was no game. He identified with, he loved the wild creatures he killed. His real targets were the humans who gloried in tormenting the weak and the helpless.
Having himself been the victim of cruel, arbitrary authority— the master mason, his pa and his ma (who’d let it all happen)—his true enemy was now authority itself, in whatever shape or form he found it. And the targets nearest to hand were the landowners whose game he poached—and their proxies, the game wardens.
The book ends in a way that is both rewarding and thought-provoking, making you think after you put it down. It brings the main plot points together while providing space for reflection and eagerness for the next book in the series.
The distinctive way that "The Accursed" combines historical nuance with personal drama makes it stand out. It is especially notable since a female protagonist is the main character in a historically male-dominated setting.
The story's arc is well written, combining escalating action, climax, and resolution in just the right amounts. The pacing is done well, keeping you engrossed from page to page.
"The Accursed" is an outstanding work of historical fiction that provides a complex tapestry of people, feelings, and historical knowledge. In addition to being captivating and well-written, Vivien Ferrars' novel offers a glimpse into the social dynamics of a crucial era in Italian history as well as the intricacies of human nature.
*****
“The Accursed” by Vivien Ferrars receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from The Historical Fiction Company
Award:
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