Description
Fiction. Italian Studies. IPPY Award Gold Medalist for Historical Fiction. Award-Winner in the Best Cover Design: Fiction category of the 2019 International Book Awards. LA BRIGANTESSA is based on true events in the aftermath of Italy's 1861 Unification, a turbulent period known as "The Decade of Fire" (1860-1870), when scores of brigands rebelled against the harsh policies imposed by the new government, which in turn ordered the destruction of these outlaws and anyone harbouring them. Gabriella Falcone is a peasant girl who works for Don Simone, the parish priest. She is forced to flee her hamlet of Camini in 1862 after stabbing Alfonso Fantin, a wealthy landowner who sexually assaulted her. Devastated to leave her fiancé Tonino, and knowing her fate will be life imprisonment at best if apprehended, she allows the priest to lead her through the harsh Aspromonte mountain range to seek refuge in an isolated monastery. They soon discover that Fantin has survived and is employing the forces of law to pursue Gabriella and bring her to justice. Gabriella and Don Simone continue their journey to seek yet another safe haven but soon fall into the hands of brigands. Gabriella is catapulted into a world she has only ever heard about in nervous whispers, a world where right and wrong, justice and vengeance take on new meanings, and where the boundaries between good and evil are blurred. Gabriella is drawn into the role of brigantessa and discovers that the convictions she once held dear no longer have a place in this wild, unlawful territory.
Author Bio
Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli was born in Calabria, Italy, and immigrated to Canada with her family at three years of age. She is a professional member of the Writers' Union of Canada, the Canadian Authors Association, the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers, Toronto Romance Writers and CANSCAIP. An alumna of the Humber School for Writers, Rosanna has been published in nineteen anthologies and journals. She has read at conferences and literary events in Sudbury, Parry Sound, Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie, Manitoulin Island, Winnipeg, Montreal, Vancouver, New York City, and Italy. Rosanna's novel LA BRIGANTESSA (Inanna Publications, 2018) was awarded Gold for Historical Fiction in the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards and she received her gold medal at the IPPY Awards in New York City in May 2019. LA BRIGANTESSA was a finalist for the 2019 Canadian Authors Association Fred Kerner Book Award and the Northern Lit Award. It won a 2019 International Book Award for Best Cover Design, and The Miramichi Reader's "The Very Best!" Book Award in 2019 for Best Cover Art (designed by Val Fullard). Rosanna has been a guest author at book club meetings, literary events, and reading series. Along with writing historical fiction, short fiction, and creative non-fiction, she has had five romance novels published with Harlequin and two children's books published with Pajama Press. Pigeon Soup & Other Stories was released by Inanna in June 2021.
Author City: SUDBURY, ON CAN