Before the Rain Falls

Before the Rain Falls by Camille di Maio is a poignant, tragic story of family, love, loss, and redemption, with a mystery at the heart of it. It is beautifully written, with a full, well-developed cast strong in character and faith, willing to make incredibly hard choices to protect those they love.

When the story begins Della Lee has just returned home to the Texas town of Puerto Pesar after seventy years in prison for the murder of her sister, Eula. Seventy years. Unbelievable. Longer than most of us who will read this have been alive. She’s lost so much in addition to her freedom. Her youth. Not just her youth, but her middle age and her old age as well. Her husband of four hours, her sister, her daughter, born in prison and then show more taken from her. She just wants to live out the rest of her life in peace and is finally ready to tell her side of the events that landed her in prison those many years ago.

Dr. Paloma Vega is back in her hometown of Puerto Pesar to take care of her sick grandmother and see if she can set her rebellious younger sister on the right track in the few weeks she plans to be in town. She doesn’t plan to stay. Mick Anders is in Puerto Pesar to investigate a mysterious portrait and redeem himself as a reporter after some very poor choices. He doesn’t plan to stay either. They are unexpectedly thrown together with Della Lee. She tells them, “Things aren’t always as they seem. Don’t assume you know everything you might have read about me is the truth. Only I know the truth. And the only other two who did have long since died.” And she is right. Discoveries are made that will change many lives.

Before the Rain Falls (Puerto Pesar hasn’t had rain in one hundred and eighty-two days) is an engrossing story of family, faith and choices that have far-reaching consequences. The story alternates between the 1940s with Della Lee’s time in prison and present day Puerto Pesar. Author di Maio does an amazing job of weaving threads back and forth in both times and through all the characters’ lives. There is hardship, sacrifice, tragedy – and many twists and turns and surprises.

I have an audiobook of Before the Rain Falls and was consumed with both the past and present and couldn’t stop listening. Narrator Dara Rosenberg is wonderful and makes the story even more heartbreaking if possible. It’s the kind of story that leaves you emotionally exhausted but completely fulfilled. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it without hesitation. show less

Clear your schedule before you pick up Camille Di Maio's book, because it is simply unputdownable!

This is primarily the story of Della Lee, and her tale begins as she is released from prison, an elderly woman now, but it is also the story of Dr Paloma Vega, raised in Puerto Pesar and home to look after her recovering Grandmother, and of journalist Mick Anders, who travels to the tired, dusty South Texas town in search of a story that will resuscitate his career. Their lives cross and become intertwined, and the story is skillfully presented in a dual timeline format: Della Lee's story beginning in the '40s up until her release from prison, and in present day as their paths and goals knit together.

The book opens slowly, appropriately show more setting the mood for tired, worn down Puerto Pesar (which means "Port of Regret"). Di Maio is wonderful with setting the scene and in telling a story that is tragic and fascinating, with characters that are sharply drawn and clever. She did a particularly wonderful job of bringing the Women's Prison and the convicts to life in a way that was sympathetic, vivid and simply interesting. Della Lee's life is a captivating tale, as sad and harsh as it was, and is told by Della Lee with the honesty and humor that she has.

This was simply a wonderful book, and I cannot recommend it enough. Fans of The Baker's Daughter will love this book.



* Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.* show less

This novel takes place in a small Texas border town that most people can't wait to leave but not in the way that Della Lee left town. In the 40s she was found guilty of killing her sister and sentenced to life in prison. As the book begins, she is returning to her old house after 70 years in prison. Also in town at the same time are Mick Anders a journalist from Boston who is on suspension from his newspaper and is looking for a good story and Dr. Polama Vega who is back home from NYC for a two week vacation to take care of her grandmother and try to help her sister. The book alternates between Della Lee telling the story from the 40s and the other characters telling their story from present day. Their lives become tied together as they show more try to answer the question of what really happened 70 years ago.

I loved the way the author told this story by intertwining all of the characters lives. Della Lee's story was so sad and her experiences in prison were terrible even though she tells it in a very calm way. Her crime and subsequent time in jail are the central story in the novel and her story keeps you rapidly turning pages to find out everything that happened to her. She is a character that I won't soon forget.

I strongly advise you to add this book to your TBR lists. It's the story of family and love and finding the out what is really important to live a happy and fulfilled life.

Thanks to Andrea of Great Thoughts Great Readers for a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own. show less

Before the Rain Falls was such a fun read because it was very different than any other book I have read lately. As the book opens Della Lee is returning home to Puerto Pesar, a small Texas town near the Mexican border. At the same time, two other individuals converge on Puerto Pesar, Mike Anders, a struggling journalist hoping to pursue a career-reviving story, and Dr. Paloma Vega, a former resident of the town returning for a short stint to care for her grandmother and sister. The three cross paths and help each other resolve family issues and learn about love, loss and pursuing their own dreams. I truly enjoyed reading about the relationships they developed with each other. DiMaio also addresses how faith can sometimes shape people, show more not always for the better which was a subject that made me think long after I finished reading this book.

The story is told in a dual timeline format, Della Lee’s story from the 1940’s, and the present day Puerto Pesar. My favorite part of the novel bizarrely enough was the section related to Della Lee’s prison stint. The Women’s Prison in which Della Lee was incarcerated participated in the Huntsville rodeo which I found truly fascinating. The prison also had a singing group that was broadcast weekly on the radio for years. In addition to those facts, the prison hierarchy and the details regarding just surviving in a women’s prison completely intrigued me.

Even though I have lived in Texas for a long time, I have not spent any time in South Texas. Before the Rain Falls makes the area sound pretty desolate, Puerto Pesar means “Port of Regret”, which made me struggle with the ending a bit. However, as I continue to read and review I realize that I need to try and avoid placing my preferences onto characters and determine instead if I feel that that character would truly make that choice. While I am not totally sure that would be the case, it is much more likely than if I were the one choosing. That was my only quibble with the book, and it was a small one.

I definitely recommend Before the Rain Falls. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. show less

This is not the type of book that I normally choose and unfortunately this latest work of Camille Di Maio has not heightened my desire to read this genre in the future. In the early pages, Della Lee, accused and convicted of killing her sister, is sentenced to "forever" in prison. The descriptions of the treatment a prisoner could expect at the Goree Women's Facility in the 1940s was chilling but not unrealistic nor unexpected. While the book was fairly well written, the story, the characters, everything moved along in a predictable straight line. The characters held few secrets, the plot was not new nor exciting. Predictable was the defining concept for me. It was a quick read.

Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an show more advance copy. show less

MYSTERY/HISTORICAL FICTION
Camille Di Maio
Before the Rain Falls: A Novel
Lake Union Publishing
Paperback, 978-1-5039-3997-4 (also available as an e-book, an audiobook, and on Audible), 334 pgs., $14.95
May 16, 2017

In 1943 in the Hidalgo County courthouse, Della Lee Trujillo is found guilty of the murder of her sister, Eula Lee, and sentenced to life in prison. Seventy years later, ninety-year-old Della returns to the fictional Texas border town of Puerto Pesar on parole. Della is ready for the Truth Days, ready to tell tales about the Before Days and the After Days; she just needs the right ear to hear them. Enter Mick Anders, a cynical reporter from Boston who has one last chance to save his career.

Before the Rain Falls: A Novel by San show more Antonio’s Camille Di Maio is a historical mystery, moving back and forth in time from the dark days of the Lee family’s past to the present-day troubles of Puerto Pesar. A record-breaking drought and poverty plague the town. As happens in trying times, desperate people turn to religion and the supernatural for solace and hope. Puerto Pesar is no exception as the populace decides that a childhood portrait of Eula Lee has begun crying, earning her the honorific “Santa Bonita.” Di Maio has a point to make about the diminished role of faith today:

“Her soul?” [Mick Anders asked]
[Della] nodded. “You young people don’t pay too much heed to those kinds of things today, but you have to remember that I grew up in a time with stark right and wrong. Heaven and hell stuff. Sin. You don’t use that word, do you, Mr. Anders?”
He couldn’t say that he did …
“Exactly,” she continued … “[My father] prayed for [my mother] all the time. Not that she would come back and love him, but that she would renounce her adultery and honor her vows so that she could be restored to salvation.”
She was right. He didn’t know anyone who used language like that. It was something from another century.

There is more than one mystery in Before the Rain Falls, and more than a few plot twists. Di Maio sets the hook in the preface, earning our attention. However, the pace lags and action is sparse. She nails the small, border-town vibe. Di Maio’s writing ranges from charming to heartbreaking, and the developing romance between Mick and Paloma is sweet, the flirty dialogue cute and fun.

“Is this the Mick Anders who trudged into town a couple of weeks ago with a chip on his shoulder and tassels on his shoes?” [Paloma] leaned over and pointed to the raffia flip-flops he was wearing.
“That Mick Anders? I don’t know the man.”
“Oh, you should have seen him. Good-looking guy. But arrogant. Really arrogant. Went on and on about some weird food in Asia.”
“Sounds like an ass. Glad I didn’t run into him.”

Di Maio’s characters are sympathetic. In addition to Della Lee and Mick Anders, there’s Paloma Vega, a doctor who left a sister and grandmother in Puerto Pesar to follow her dreams, and Mercedes Vega, Paloma’s teenage sister, resentful of Paloma’s abandonment and restless for her own chance to escape—another tale of two sisters.

In the end, the pieces fit together a little too nicely. Before the Rain Falls is uneven, but evidences Di Maio’s potential.

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life. show less

I would like to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Camille Di Maio for the ARC of "Before the Rain Falls" by Camille Di Maio for my honest review.
The genres for this book are Fiction, and Women's Fiction. The story had suspense and an essence of history.
I loved Camille Di Maio's style of writing which had me so engrossed that I didn't want to put the book down. I also appreciated the descriptions of Puerto Pasar and Texas. I could imagine the stifling and suffocating heat. I found the descriptions of the church, and the local stores, and tantalizing foods amazing..
The characters in this story were complex, complicated and conflicted. Della Lee, has been released from prison after serving a seven decade sentence for the murder show more of her sister Eula. She arrives at her home in Puerto Pasar.
Paloma Vego, is a physician who comes home to Puerto Pasar, to see her grandmother, who is recovering from a heart attack and her younger sister who seems to have a way of finding trouble.
Mick Anders, is a suspended journalist, who has been sent to write a story about a painting in Puerto Pasar.
The timeline of the story alternates between the past and present. There are two storylines. One is of the hard life that Della Lee has faced in prison. The other is Paloma's and Mick's search to find their personal answers to what they are seeking..
The author describes the importance, love and sacrifice for family. The author also discusses betrayal, loyalty, support, and friendship.
This was a fantastic read that I enjoyed, and would recommend it highly. There are some Kleenex moments. I look forward to more of Camille Di Maio's books. show less