The Shoemaker's Daughter - Adriana Trigiani - ARC February

I have been a fan of Adriana Trigiani's writing since reading the Big Stone Gap based books, and she has a great descriptive narrative, transporting the reader to the setting, and writes characters who are easy to care about.

The Shoemaker's Daughter starts in the Italian Alps and tells the story of Ciro and his roller-coaster formative years, and subsequent journey to America as a young man to make a life for himself. Enza also travels from the same area of Italy to New York, and their story unfolds.

I found myself thinking about the characters long after I finished the book, and for me at least, this makes a good read.

My art had to be shoe-related. I am rather partial to a fun pair of shoes. I remember a window display in a shop in Melbourne with lots of paper shoes, and found a template to have a go myself. Now, mine is relatively plain, and my excuse is that I have been (and still am) fighting off a rotten viral infection which has lain me low for over two weeks now. There was glue-related trauma with this, but eventually I managed to come up with something that looks like a shoe, from a couple of squares of vintage Laura Ashley paper, and some Stampin' Up pearls.