The Color of Dreams: An Umbrian Tale

In 19th-century Europe, Claire Brophy is born into a lower middle-class family where the traditional life as a dutiful wife and mother is prescribed. But Claire’s rare intellectual and aesthetic sensibilities, combined with an unexpected change in her family’s fortune, allow her to rise well beyond her station. Claire marries and settles down to a life of presumed normalcy. Yet, all is not well, and she begins a downward spiral into a state of deep depression, verging on madness.

Written as a series of diary entries set under stunning splashes of the ever-changing colors of the clouds, Claire begins to reminisce and dream in color as the stories of her youth, marriage, infidelity, and travels are painted through a series of intricate flashbacks and flashforwards.

The reader travels with Claire on a physical and mental journey southward and downward that probes deeply into her deep-seated desires and troubled psyche. Observing each and every shape and color of her natural surroundings, she takes the reader along with her on a spiritual, sensual, and magical quest.

Roberta Kaye Waldbaum was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, and her heart resides in her home in the Umbrian hills, the green heart of Italy. A passionate Italophile, she is a professor of Italian language, literature, cinema, and culture at the University of Denver, where she holds the Anna Maglione-Sie Endowed Professorship in Italian Culture. The recipient of two university teaching awards, she has authored book chapters, translations, and journals in the areas of 19th and early 20th century Italian education, memoirs, civic engagement, and film studies.

An Italian film consultant, she advises the Denver Film Festival and Italian directors on the selection of films for the annual Showcase on Italian Cinema. The Color of Dreams: An Umbrian Tale is her first novel.

Connect with Roberta by visiting RobertaWaldbaum.com.