Tales from the Wood's Edge: a memoir

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

In a reversal of the usual Tuscan Dream, a small Italian family of parents, daughter and dog, move to New Zealand in search of adventure. Here are their stories, as well as memories of life in Italy and Japan, of holidays in Kenya, Turkey and other countries. This is also a womans personal story of emigrating to a new country and integrating with the local way of life, something many will identify with. They will recognize their own efforts to meet new challenges while maintaining their core personalities as defined by their country of origin and their personal and collective memories. Inquisitive readers will find the books themes stimulating and the style engaging. They will immerse themselves in a tapestry of people, animals, places, landscapes, colours, buildings, music, wine, food.

Reviews

For years, whoever asked me, from one side or the other of the world, reading tips about Italy and all things Italian, with the intention of holidaying or relocating there, received the same (hurried and unabashed) answer: Under the Tuscan Sky by Karen Aldous or any novel by Nicky Pellegrino I can change the tune now and instead recommend, to Italians and non-Italians alike, Wilma Giordano Laryns Tales from the Woods Edge. As Tim Parks has shown in Italian Neighbours and An Italian Education, unless we make things personal, they may not really matter in the end and fade away. These Tales are as personal as storytelling can be, yet they have something to say for everybody, beautifully and painfully true to life as they are to the authors life. Wilma leaves no stone unturned as she faces the music of what happened and continues to happen to her as a global citizen poised between Italy and New Zealand. Marco Sonzogni, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington.

Author Bio

Wilma spent the first half of her life in Italy. Her school education started with Grammar School and ended with a Maths degree. She worked in the private sector then moved to teaching Maths at public schools, while moonlighting with feminist theatre. She spent a few years in Japan, following the work of her then partner, now husband. After a short interlude in Italy, where their only daughter was born, in 1996 they moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, and started a vineyard and winery business. Wilmas activities expanded to voluntary work: radio, a TV cooking series, a festival, coaching the opera chorus, events of all kinds, and the Dante Alighieri Society, for which she started the Christchurch Language School. Besides working as the Marketing Manager for the family wine business, she taught Italian for Musicians at the Canterbury University, and Italian language and cooking at evening classes. In 2018 the couple retired to Auckland, where eventually this book was completed. Wilma received from the Italian Government a civil knighthood, the Star of the Italian Solidarity, for her activity as a journalist and teacher, and a gold medal from the Dante Alighieri headquarters.