The Good Left Undone: A Novel

Adriana Trigiani's novel, The Good Left Undone is an epic, sweeping story about a family of artisans in Tuscany, Italy. The Cabrelli family has been creating and selling beautiful jewelry for generations, and now Matelda, the elderly matriarch, is reflecting on her life as her 25 year-old granddaughter Anina is questioning the choices she has made in her own life. The story is told in present day and in the days leading up to WWII where Domenica is a young nurse who runs afoul of the local parish priest and is sent away from her family to Marseille, France to work with nuns in a hospital. She meets handsome Scottish sea merchant captain John McVicars there and quickly falls in love. As war approaches France, Domenica is sent to Scotland, and then Liverpool, England, where Italians are sent to an internment camp because the British government feels they can't be trusted, as Mussolini has aligned Italy with the Nazis. Trigiani once again gives us a fantastic generational family story, and layers in a historical lesson that many of us did not know- Italians (many whom had lived in England and Scotland for years) were rounded up and imprisoned based solely on their heritage. (Susan Elia MacNeal's The King's Justice dealt with this topic as well.) This is similar to what the United States did to people of Japanese descent after Pearl Harbor. One of the best things about reading an Adriana Trigiani novel is that it is a treat for all of your senses.You can hear the tents snapping in the wind at Carnevale, smell apple strudel baking, taste the delicious cherry cake (I would love that recipe!), and see in your mind's eye the beautifully crafted jewelry "glistening like ribbon candy" in its case. As someone who grew up attending Catholic school, I appreciated the nuns in the story. The care they provided as nurses to their charges, the kindness they showed to Domenica, the strength they exhibit, these are the women I grew up knowing. One of my favorite scenes occurs when Anina and her fiancé go to their parish priest for advice. The priest is a wise man, who listens to their concerns and relates his best advice- "Forgive.Forget.Repeat." At a time when we have all missed seeing our family- parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles- falling into this big, beautiful book about, as Matelda says, how "a family is only as strong as its stories" will encourage us to share our own family's stories with each other. And as Father Fracassi says, we must "reflect on the past, (and) make peace with it. You cannot control the evil done to you. You cannot turn back and right the good left undone." There is so much to ponder in The Good Left Undone, it's the kind of book that once you turn the last page, you want to immediately begin to reread it. I give it my highest recommendation.

There are a lot of characters in this book and it weaves back in time and then to present day a number of times, but you definitely care about the characters and their outcome. I was taken by the richness of the family bond, the growth of change through history as well as the sad consequences of loss from prejudice and generalizations of a whole culture of people. The book is well done fiction with great integrity about the actual "tone" of the history in which each generation lives. The author does a great job of having you care about what each character cares about. Not an easy task.

I love how the author creates and develops her characters. They are so much like real people with their idiosyncrasies and quirky personalities. She brings them to life and they are like people you know! I enjoyed this being around gems and jewelry making it interesting and informative. The love stories captured my heart. There are so many people’s lives in this book that touched me. One thing I didn’t know about was the round up of Italians (Britalians) by Britain. This was heartbreaking. There are many stories within stories in this book. I loved the family dynamics and ultimate love and support between them. It was special that the granddaughter cherished time with her grandmother. I also love how the author describes the land, sea, and sky. She makes everything and everyone come alive. A great book!! I read this immediately after reading her book The Shoemaker’s Wife, which I LOVED!! It isn’t as impactful to me as The Shoemaker’s Wife, so I’m struggling a bit with my review, still, it is a wonderful story! pamarella PRCS

Once again, Adriana Trigiani wrote novel that I could not put down the minute I started it. Adriana skillfully pieced together historical events, with Italian superstition, outdated church beliefs and family dynamics. The Good Left Undone starts with a story of Domenica, starting with a childhood friendship with Silvio, who born out of wedlock and scorned by local bullies. An incident influences Domenica to become a nurse, which is successful, until a woman came to her for advice on birth control. The woman’s husband, one of the village bullies not only confronted Domenica at the village carnival, he reported her to the local Catholic priest who insisted Dominica’s boss discipline. The punishment was to leave the village if she was to continue being a nurse. At first sent to France, where she worked at a Catholic hospital with nuns, then through world events leading up to World War II onto Scotland. While in France she meets and falls in love with a Scottish SeaCaptain, John. John’s mother intercepted letters from Domenica as she opposed to her son being involved with an Italian. Once Domenica and John learn the truth, they decided to get married. Soon after they were married, John had to report to duty, where his first assignment was to transport Italian enemies to a camp. It was on this assignment that he tragically dies. The novel goes beyond Domenica. There are so many characters in the book, each more interesting than the other. There are Domenica parents, who had a jewelry store that created jewels with hand cut stones, her daughter, as well as granddaughter (that continued the family business) and friends from the village. Trigiani has the talent to keeping the reader captivated. You actually learn a lot about history, feelings, and traditions from her words. Because of the historical events in Italy and Scotland, I recommended this book to anyone interested in Italian studies (events from WorldWarII) Always one of my favorite authors, I look forward to reading her books.

I love Adriana Trigiani novels. Her heroines are beautiful, smart, sassy, independent personalities. She paints gorgeous settings in Italy. And there’s usually lots of family history and humor. This novel had that, but it was difficult for me to follow, because it continually bounces back an forth between two generations. I prefer a straight story line like in her Valentine novels.

Alternating between present time and WWII era, we learn of the loves and losses of the Cabrelli family of Viareggo, Italy. Domenica Cabrelli leaves Italy as a young women to spend time in Marseille, then is moved to Scotland where she spent the war years as a nurse. She pines for home, but with Italy under control of the Fascists it isn't safe to go home. She isn't able to return to Italy until her daughter, Matelda is 6 years old. Years later, Matelda passes on the long-buried secrets of the past to her granddaughter who is just about to get married. I found the historical setting most interesting - the treatment of Italians abroad and the assumption that they were all evil Fascists was something I hadn't understood before. The tragic sinking of the SS Arandora Star troop ship was an event that I barely knew about. Told with great emotion and sentimentality, this novel reads like an epic, though I did find myself getting confused about the significance and relation of the many characters. However, the story didn't resonate as strongly with me as I expected it to. Why was Domenica's past kept such a secret? Why was it so difficult for Matelda to talk about it? There seemed to be some loose ends that were never tied together in a believable fashion.

The Good Left Undone is a multigenerational story that brings to life the Cabrelli women—especially Matelda, who, in her final days, dares to reveal a long-held family secret about love, war, sacrifice, and ultimately, healing. From Viareggio to France and Scotland, we follow Matelda’s mother, a woman who is both fierce and tender, caught in the currents of history. As an author and speaker who encourages others to connect to their heritage, I was especially touched by the novel’s message: that knowing our family stories can transform our sense of identity, purpose, and connection. The novel reminds us that the past is never truly behind us—it lives on in the stories we share.

Loved this book. The love for grandmothers & their stories. Reminded me of my own Italian nonna & nonno that I lived with growing up. Many years ago my husband & I drove thru the town of Lucca with its narrow streets. Another Great story from A. Trigani.

I have read all of Trigiani's books but had taken a break of a couple of years as I wasnt sure I was enjoying the Italian-AMerican theme so much. THis was a pleasant return to the genre for me. Spanning the UK and Italy this time with interesting background history of the struggles italians had settling in the UK. Of course the sections based in Italy were fantastic - again educating the reader on the part religion played in the community- in both positive and negative ways. But this was mostly a lovely story of family and romantic love with lots of italian food and scenery thrown in!

As always, this author never fails to capture the reader from the first chapter. There is never any confusion who all the characters are, their back stories and all their connections to each other. As a reader, you are drawn into each family and feel a connection throughout their journey until the conclusion. A novel you would look forward to reading again.

I'm in bits. Very moved by the ending which, while not unexpected, was beautifully done. I loved this book! It took me to Italy, to France, to Scotland, and then back home to Italy with an unforgettable story.

20+ years ago I was in love with Adriana Trigiani's Big Stone Gap books. I absolutely loved them I bought spare copies for friends, I told everybody how great they are. I haven't read her since. I don't think the time gap did me or her any favours. Whilst there's a lot to like, I can't work out if I've moved on and she hasn't, or if we've just gone in different directions. I liked Dominica's story. I could have done without Matelda's. I didn't see any of it as a great historic mystery. What I really didn't get and wouldn't have missed (because I really couldn't see it connecting with the rest of the story) was the tale of the Jewish jeweller who had to flee the Fascists. I'm still not sure what that diversion added to the story. On the plus side, I was largely ignorant of the persecution of Italians in the UK during the second world war. I guess I should have guessed such things happened but that was largely new to me. The storyline about the ship of exiles was very moving and emotional. All in all, it's an OK book. But I won't be buying spares for family and friends.

This is such a beautiful story of love, loss, loyalty, and the unseen connection s within a family. I loved it.