The Good Left Undone

Three generations of Tuscan artists with one extraordinary secret are the subject of this beautiful, engrossing book by Adriana Trigiani, "a master of visual and palpable detail" (The Washington Post). With its grandiose scale and abundant themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone takes readers on a journey filled with astounding twists and turns.

Matriarch Matelda of the Cabrelli family has always been abrasive and outspoken. As she nears the end of her life, Matelda is resolved to tell her family the long-kept truth about her mother's amazing love story—the one she had as a kid with Silvio, her childhood friend, and the handsome Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, the father Matelda never met. It's...

Domenica Cabrelli lives a happy life in the idyllic seaside village of Viareggio until Italy teeters on the verge of World War II, making her beloved home dangerous. As Domenica experiences love, sorrow, and sadness while yearning for her own country, her journey takes her from the jagged cliffs of Marseille to the mystical beauty of Scotland to the perils of wartime Liverpool—where Italian Scots are imprisoned without reason. One hundred years later, Matelda, her daughter, and Anina, her granddaughter, wrestle with the same existential issues and concerns regarding their family's history, as Matelda muses about what causes her to fight for. However, Matelda is running out of time, and the two eras collide and entwine in painfully unexpected ways that bring the family's surprising discoveries and, in the end, salvation.