Mary Morris (1) (1947–)

Laura's mother walked out of their lives when she was an adolescent and something that has haunted her ever since. Now middle-aged, she finally decides to go to Puglia in Italy to look for clues in her mother's past, as she contemplates leaving her husband. Laura's mother, Viola, was almost a teenager when her family was sent to the south of Italy to be incarcerated. The war has been raging for some time and non-Italian Jews are being rounded up. Only her father isn't a native Italian, but show more the family decides to stay together and so share the deprivation and challenges of being kept in a red building in the countryside with inadequate food and crowded conditions.

Yes, this is another historical novel with two storylines set at different times. While Viola's story is far more eventful and dramatic, Laura's story was the one I was more interested in following. Morris does a great job of unwrapping how Laura's mother's desertion deeply affected her life and how she relates to other people. Viola's story, that of an adolescent behaving like an adolescent, was less compelling to me; Morris really nailed the behavior of that age and refused to do the usual thing of making Viola noble and self-sacrificing, as is usual in novels about this time. Morris explores how the circumstances of our childhoods form how we relate to the world in a thoughtful and insightful way, which makes this book worthwhile, despite the unrealistic ease at which Laura discovers information about her mother. show less

4.25 Stars — Emotional and eye-opening: THE RED HOUSE by Mary Morris is a poignant dual timeline story about a part of WWII Italian history that I wasn't familiar with.

When Laura was young, her mother, Viola, disappeared without a trace, leaving the family with an immense hole and many unanswered questions. Viola was a painter, and her work that stood out most to Laura were paintings of a mysterious red house. On the back, Viola wrote the words, "I will not be here forever.”

Thirty years show more later, Laura is at a pivotal moment in her life, and decides to take the painting and return to Italy where her mother was from, in hopes of finding closure of some kind.

Flowing back and forth between Viola in the past and Laura in the present, this book touches on generational trauma and mother-daughter relationships. It's a beautifully written historical family mystery with a cast of compelling characters. Haunting. show less

I feel the loss of those I never knew. I mourn people I didn’t know existed until now. I am surrounded by ghosts. from The Red House by Mary Morris

Laura is forty-two, the same age her mother was when she disappeared. Laura’s marriage is in crisis. She impulsively decides to leave for Italy to search for her mother’s untold history. She knew where her parents met. She knew they were in love. And that her mother loved the Pine Barrens. And painting, especially of a mysterious red show more house.

We are all mysteries to ourselves. from The Red House by Mary Morris

Laura tracks her mother’s past from Brindisi where she was born, to Castellobello and the Red House, to Naples where her parents met. Laura uncovers her mother’s life of privilege before WWII, and then internment where a canary was treated better than human. She suffered the loss of a loving family and made horrendous choices to survive. She discovered how love and art kept her mother alive. And learned how her mother could not escape the ghosts of the past, the guilt of surviving, the betrayals endured and committed.

The story reveals the little known history of Jews under Fascist Italy, heartbreakingly told through a loving family’s plight. It is a tale of intergenerational trauma.

The further I read, the harder it was to put this haunting book down.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley. show less

The Virago Book of Women Travellers is a collection of excerpts of writing from women traveler, from the seventeenth century through the twentieth. Many, many authors are represented here, from Flora Tristan (who I learned was the grandmother of Paul Gaugin) to Isabella Bird to Beryl Markham, and includes a number of authors who I knew through their fiction but wrote about their travels as well: Vita Sackville-West or Edith Wharton, for example, or Kate O’Brien, who had a lifelong love for show more Spain that you see in her novels, but experience her love for the country firsthand through her travel writing.

These women represent a number of nationalities, traveled pretty much everywhere, and experienced pretty much everything. Especially prior to the twentieth century, women (particularly single women) used travel as a means of escaping the confined lives they led. It’s interesting to note, from the author lifespans that are given above each excerpt, how long many of these women travelers lived; many lived well into their nineties and spent a good chunk of their lives exploring and having adventures. Even Isabelle Eberhardt, who died penniless at the age of 28 in a flash flood, led a remarkable life. Each and every one of them was or is truly unique and remarkable.

Some of the stories they tell are priceless, too, and very enjoyable. Each of these women had a distinct point of view, which comes across through each of the excerpts chosen for inclusion in this collection. My favorite was probably the one from Emily Hahn, whose excerpt from Times and Places begins,

Though I had always wanted to be an opium addict, I can’t claim that as the reason I went to China. The opium ambition dates back to that obscure period of childhood when I wanted to be a lot of other things, too—the greatest expert on ghosts, the world’s best ice skater, the champion lion tamer, you know the kind of thing. But by the time I went to China I was grown up, and all those dreams were forgotten.

If that’s truly the first line of this work, then that’s truly a great, eye-catching first line!

I do wish that the editor of this collection had included dates of publication for the excerpts; I think it might have given more a context for the work and writer. A writer I wish had been included was Emily Eden, who wrote extensively about her travels in colonial India in the 19th century. But in all, I think this is very strong collection of writing, great for dipping into here and there as the mood strikes. show less