First We Eat: Growing Up in Val di Comino, Italy (LIfe Rattle Press New Publishers Series) - Softcover

Doyle, Maeve

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1927023912 ISBN 13: 9781927023914

Publisher: Life Rattle Press, Toronto, Canada, 2015

Synopsis

"On the farm, first you worked, then you had breakfast." Born to poor tenant farmers in rural Italy in 1950, Giuseppe Schiavo’s mother, who already has ten children and is ill, gives her newborn baby away to her best friend to nurse. Carmela Cedrone and her husband Domenico, whose five children all died in childbirth, welcome Giuseppe with open arms. He happily grows up with his stepparents in an old stone farmhouse. When he turns ten, Giuseppe’s birth parents suddenly reclaim him and immediately put him to work on their farm. Eventually, his birth father makes him quit school. In one day, Giuseppe goes from the beloved only child of landowners to a stranger in his birth family of sharecroppers. In this collection of short stories, Giuseppe describes his journey from cherished adopted stepson to child farm labourer to his immigration to Canada, where he becomes a well-respected master stonemason who lives by the words, "First we eat. Then we do."

About this title

About the Author:

Maeve Doyle studies Professional Writing & Communications at the University of Toronto.

About this edition

• Publisher: Life Rattle Press, Toronto, Canada
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1927023912
• ISBN 13: 9781927023914
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112