The Most Beautiful Rose

Domenica Calabrese Tedeschi's The Most Beautiful Rose is a delightful, yet heartbreaking memoir of an Italian girl growing up in a rural village in the Molise section of Italy. She tends cows, brings manure to her father, feeds the animals, and does other daily farm chores. She also goes to school and enjoys an extremely close relationship with her two cousins. Until one day, they move away to Canada. They are all devastated! But, an even greater tragedy is to befall the family. Their mother dies leaving seven children, aged 14 years to newborn infant! One day at a time, they learn to cope with the hardships of life without Mom. Two of the sisters were placed in an orphanage. Eventually, their father married a woman they all knew who lived in The United States, and the family emigrates to America. The two oldest children remained in Italy, however, leading to another heartrending good-bye. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll learn a great deal about Italian life and culture when you read The Most Beautiful Rose, Memoir of an Italian Immigrant's Extraordinary Childhood! Several photographs and a map of Italy, too!