Award-winning author of Thwarted Queen writes a dark historical, about a hidden murderer and how far he will go to control his wife.
When Angelina, the black sheep of the Pagano family, meets the mysterious Mr. Russell, she has no idea that she has seen him before…in another country.
And so begins Farewell My Life, a novel in three parts, which spins an operatic tale of dangerous love, obsession and loss; of crumbling, dissolving and nothingness.
The Lost Mother slices back and forth between time and space, opening in Georgetown, Washington D.C. in the Fall of 1921, while reflecting a family’s troubled past in Marostica, in the 19th century Italian Veneto.
An Unsuitable Suitor is a Cinderella-ish tale with not-so-charming princes who inhabit the edgy setting of 1920s Berlin.
Farewell My Life, set in Berlin during the dark 1930s as the Nazis gain power, takes comfortable lives, assumptions and civilizations and crumbles them into ash.
And all of this revolves around 17-year-old Grace, Angelina’s younger daughter, whose fabulous talent for the violin promises a shimmering career.
This intriguing tale explores the hopes, plans, and struggles of Angelina, the stubborn youngest daughter of a troubled Italian-American family, and her two daughters. A widow, Angelina became a “fallen woman,” acting as a mistress over the years in an attempt to earn her own money, and the story opens just as her life begins to change.
But when she finds a young man passionately and relentlessly interested in courting Grace, her youngest, who is only seventeen, she takes an instant dislike to the scheme and begins a campaign to drive him away—only he turns out to be far more relentless than she ever dreamed.
Perfect for those who are looking for a story that turns happily-ever-after and “love that’s meant to be” on its head, this novel can be thoughtful one moment and heartbreakingly active the next. The characters are compelling, the settings vibrant, and the story unexpected, making for an enthralling read.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
FAREWELL MY LIFE will appeal to fans of historical fiction, broadly, to readers of fraught romantic courtship tales set in the past (think Atonement or Revolutionary Road).Droll, dramatic, frightening, immersive, Haggard’s work grabbed my attention from the first pages and kept it the entire way.
A unique, deftly scripted, and extraordinary novel by an author with a distinctive narrative storytelling style that will hold the readers dedicated attention from beginning to end, "Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia" is an impressive and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. One of those rare novels that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished.
Farewell My Life is a period drama in the form of a book, but the early 1920s form so much more than just a set piece to watch the lives of characters unfold. Every person in the book is masterfully shaped by the era, showing both prejudices, which would be overcome by living in the modern-day and inner strength and drive to claim what one wants that has existed throughout time. By not shying away from either, the author has made a masterpiece.
The author knows her characters very, very well; this shows in the consistent and very individual way they act. This is not a plot-driven story; it’s character-driven. In this book, the characters are the jam which holds everything together. The best example of this is Grace, the talented violinist, who, simply, jumps off the page. I loved her.
