The Shoemaker's Wife

Published in 2012, The Shoemaker’s Wife is a work of historical fiction by American author Adriana Trigiani. The novel traces the lives of Italian immigrants Ciro Lazzari and Enza Ravanelli, who meet in the Italian Alps as teens and reunite by chance in the US years later. They face years of hardship and loss as they attempt to establish themselves in their new country while preserving their ties to their homeland. Throughout their journey, their historical connection sustains them. The novel, which is written from the third-person point of view, explores several themes: Love Enduring Through Hardship, Immigrant Resilience and the Pursuit of the American Dream, and The Journey Toward Self-Discovery, Meaning, and Purpose.

This guide refers to the 2012 HarperCollins paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source text and guide feature depictions of illness, death, mental illness, sexual violence, substance use, child death, and death in childbirth.

Plot Summary

In 1905, Caterina Lazzari learns that her husband, Carlo Lazzari, has died in a mining accident in Minnesota, where he was working to support his family back home in the Italian Alps. Overcome with sorrow and fear, Caterina decides to leave her sons (10-year-old Ciro Lazzari and 11-year-old Eduardo Lazzari) at the San Nicola convent in Vilminore. She assures the boys that she’ll return to collect them when she can support them, but she never makes good on her promise.

In the following years, Ciro and Eduardo grow up at the convent. They become accustomed to the church school, develop relationships with the nuns, and begin to form their own opinions. Ciro becomes an incorrigible flirt and falls in love with a girl named Concetta. He’s shocked to discover that she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings and is having an affair with the priest, Don Gregorio. He reports this information to the nuns. They promise to protect him, but they fear that the priest will punish Ciro irreparably.

One day, Ciro is sent out to dig a local girl’s grave. He climbs the mountain to the village of Schilpario and watches the grieving family at the burial site from afar. After they leave the casket, he starts his work. Then, a beautiful young girl named Enza Ravanelli appears. It was her sister, Stella, who died. She and Ciro feel an instant connection. Enza opens up about her sorrow and guilt over Stella’s death. Ciro identifies with her suffering and hugs her. Feeling safe in Ciro’s arms, Enza lets him kiss her. He walks her home and expresses his condolences to her family. That night, Enza lies awake, imagining a future with Ciro.

The next day, the nuns inform Ciro that Don Gregorio is kicking him and Eduardo out of the convent. They secretly arrange for Eduardo to go to Rome to pursue a future in the clergy, and for Ciro to travel overseas to New York and apprentice with a shoemaker. The brothers are devastated to part ways but accept their fates.

After Ciro leaves for the US, Enza appears at the convent. The nuns inform her that Ciro no longer lives there, but they don’t reveal where he went.

Soon after, Enza’s family loses their house. Enza convinces her father, Marco Ravanelli, to travel to the US with her. There, they’ll pursue jobs and send money home to save for their own house. On the journey, Enza becomes gravely ill. She recovers in a Manhattan hospital, but the doctors inform her that she’ll never be able to travel by boat again. In the hospital chapel, Enza runs into Ciro, who is receiving treatment for a hand injury he incurred at the shoe shop. They’re delighted to see each other again, but Enza loses hope when Ciro’s girlfriend arrives to collect him.

Over the next six years, Ciro and Enza live independent lives. Ciro continues his apprenticeship, while Enza pursues a career in costume making at the Metropolitan Opera House. The two encounter each other a few times throughout the years, but Ciro never makes good on his promise to call on Enza. They see each other one last time before Ciro goes overseas to fight in the Great War (World War I). He offers to write to Enza, but she declines. While he’s away at the front, she enters a steady relationship with an opera singer named Vito Blazek, who offers her the chance at a new life. Enza thinks she might live glamorously after all and accepts his marriage proposal.

After the war, Ciro travels home. On the way, he muses about his past experiences and his future. He decides that Enza is the only thing worth living for and seeks her out upon returning to New York. Finding her outside the church where she’s about to marry Vito, Ciro professes his love and convinces her to call off the wedding. Enza declares her love, too, and they kiss.

Enza and Ciro marry a few months later. They make plans to move to Minnesota and open a shoe repair shop with their friends Luigi and Pappina Latini. In Minnesota, the couples create a life together, growing their families and their business along the way.

Some years later, Ciro discovers that he has cancer, a result of inhaling mustard gas during the war. He has one year to live. Ciro mourns all he’ll leave behind—namely, Enza and their son, Antonio Lazzari. Nevertheless, he’s filled with gratitude for the love he has felt.

After Ciro dies, Enza raises Antonio, and the Latinis help them. She takes in the Latinis’ daughter, Angela Latini, after Pappina dies and Luigi and his sons return to Italy. Enza loves her family and home, though she misses her late husband. She’s even sadder when Antonio goes overseas to fight in World War II and Angela relocates to New York to study music. A few years later, however, Antonio and Angela fall in love and return to Minnesota together. The night they announce their marriage, Enza goes to bed happy. She lies in her room, studying her wedding photo and reflecting on all that Ciro gave her.