The Proxy Bride in Aussie Readers

Sep 11, 2022 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2022-release, aussie-authors, read-on-kindle, net-galley, arc, own-read, historical-fiction, 3500-2022

Giacinta and Serena, both proxy brides from Palmi, Italy, set sail for Australia in 1939, aboard what was dubbed the "bride ship" heading for men they barely knew, if at all, married already by proxy, to be united with their Italian grooms already settled in Australia. The ship docked in Brisbane where all the brides departed to their various destinations, preparing for a life in a strange country, never to see their families again. Gia's husband was Taddeo, whom she'd known as a boy, but certai Giacinta and Serena, both proxy brides from Palmi, Italy, set sail for Australia in 1939, aboard what was dubbed the "bride ship" heading for men they barely knew, if at all, married already by proxy, to be united with their Italian grooms already settled in Australia. The ship docked in Brisbane where all the brides departed to their various destinations, preparing for a life in a strange country, never to see their families again. Gia's husband was Taddeo, whom she'd known as a boy, but certainly not as the man he was now, and as she settled in the rickety old Queenslander in Stanthorpe, where the farms surrounding the area were all that kept them in food, Gia knew she would work beside her husband, to make the farm successful.

When sixteen year old Sofia arrived at her Nonna Gia's farm in 1984 for her summer holidays, she had no idea about Nonna's past. All she could dwell on was her mother at home in Brisbane, and the father she knew nothing about. Her father had died before she was born but no one would talk about him. Soon though, Nonna talked to Sophia about being a proxy bride, about her past and the journey to where she was now. Nonna Gia's cooking was legendary and gradually Sophia learned that this was who Nonna was - her cooking and her past. But would she ever find anything about her father? She didn't understand why no one would talk about him...

The Proxy Bride by Aussie author Zoe Boccabella is based on fact and the stories of the proxy brides between Italy and Australia in the war years, and learning to live with a virtual stranger. The hatred by some Australians of the Italians once WWII started, the internment of Italians (mostly men) in the prisons around Brisbane (and other parts of the country) built for the purpose, for the duration of the war, the stoic strength and determination of the women left at home trying to care for their farms, pruning the fruit trees when needed, picking the fruit and loading it on trains, all the while against the brutality of the men left behind, doing all they could to make it hard for the women. The Proxy Bride is a brilliant read, and one I highly recommend.

The twelve recipes at the end of the book, after the author's notes, sound delicious!

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Sep 09, 2022 Helen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: review-copy-from-netgalley

This is a beautiful story set across two timelines and mostly in Stanthorpe Queensland we get to meet young Sophie and her Nonna Gia, as Gia opens up about her past and how she came to Australia, is there a reason Nonna is finally talking to Sofie, could it be something to do with what Sophie wants so badly to know, a must read story.

It is 1984 and Sofie has gone to spend the summer holidays with her Nonna, Sofie is not overly happy as she thinks she is old enough to be at home on her own when h This is a beautiful story set across two timelines and mostly in Stanthorpe Queensland we get to meet young Sophie and her Nonna Gia, as Gia opens up about her past and how she came to Australia, is there a reason Nonna is finally talking to Sofie, could it be something to do with what Sophie wants so badly to know, a must read story.

It is 1984 and Sofie has gone to spend the summer holidays with her Nonna, Sofie is not overly happy as she thinks she is old enough to be at home on her own when her mother is at work, Sofie is really wanting to know more about the father she never met and Nonna and Sofie are locking horns about many small things this holiday and Nonna starts to tell Sofie the story of how she arrived in Australia back in 1939 on what was known as the bride ship.

Sofie learns about Nonna Gia being a proxy bride about leaving her family in Palmi Calabria, arriving in Australia with a number of proxy brides all who settle in Stanthorpe about meeting their neighbour Keith, about how their lives moved on and what happened when World War 2 broke out and how her grandfather Nonno Taddeo was put in an internment camp and how Gia and the other wives worked the orchards so as they could live and how the people of the town treated them and how they coped with life.

Sofie is shocked to learn about her Nonna鈥檚 past and then she meets a young local boy Tim, she is drawn to him and Nonna is not happy that she is, is there a reason for all that she has learnt this summer? Is Nonna helping Sofie so as when she discovers things that she has wanted for so long it will make her understand? They have cooked together and both have opened up about so many things, and Sofie has learnt so much.

This really is a fabulous story, one that I would highly recommend, I loved it from the start, and learning about what it was like to be an immigrant when times were hard, to cope with the prejudices and learn to get on with life with what it throws at you, I loved Gia such a strong woman and Sofie she is a lovely young girl who wanted answers and got them. And then there is the food oh my, what awesome food and the recipes are in the book, don鈥檛 miss this one.

My thanks to the publisher Harlequin AU for my copy to read and review.
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Oct 11, 2022 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, australian, hist-contemp-blend, family

I enjoyed this book so much.

I really love dual timelines and this one was no exception. The book is split between two different times, the first one being Sofie in 1984. She鈥檚 sixteen, it鈥檚 the long Christmas holiday break but her mother is making her go and stay with her widowed grandmother, rather than allow her to stay at home whilst her mother is at work. Although Sofie loves her grandmother, she鈥檚 resentful of this, believing that she鈥檚 old enough to be left alone. Her grandmother is also q I enjoyed this book so much.

I really love dual timelines and this one was no exception. The book is split between two different times, the first one being Sofie in 1984. She鈥檚 sixteen, it鈥檚 the long Christmas holiday break but her mother is making her go and stay with her widowed grandmother, rather than allow her to stay at home whilst her mother is at work. Although Sofie loves her grandmother, she鈥檚 resentful of this, believing that she鈥檚 old enough to be left alone. Her grandmother is also quite strict, with rules about boys and going out and what Sofie can and cannot do. However, Sofie does find herself connecting with her grandmother on a deeper level, learning of her journey to Australia, the circumstances thereof and those early, hard years in a new country with an often hostile population during the Second World War.

Gia, Sofie鈥檚 grandmother, tells Sofie of key moments in her life and the book flashes back for the reader to get a firsthand look at her experience as a 鈥減roxy bride鈥� and leaving her family to come halfway around the world to a man she doesn鈥檛 know who is now her husband, living on a pretty remote farm and facing discrimination and racism from members of the local community. Sofie and her other Italian friends, as well as a neighbour, band together as best they can when their men are interned during WWII (as were many Australians of Italian and German descent, probably Japanese too like in the US) as well as a love story, one that makes Sofie wonder even more about her unknown parentage and the father that died before she was born.

I鈥檝e heard stories quite similar to this from my MIL, who came to Australia as a young woman after WWII, but with it still very fresh in people鈥檚 minds. She wasn鈥檛 a proxy bride but ended up in a small Victorian town living and working with her sister and sister鈥檚 husband, taking care of their children and helping in their milk bar. Like the Italians in this book, my MIL, her sister and brother-in-law tended to keep very much within their own ex-pat community, socialising with other Italians, marrying them, their children growing up together and often doing the same thing. These marriages were sometimes arranged between families and other times it happened organically. Like Gia in this book, my MIL is also a quite strict Italian Catholic who attends church multiple times a week. She鈥檚 also an excellent cook (her chicken schnitzel is second to none) and sticks very much to traditional foods from her homeland, dishes her family probably cooked and ate regularly. My FIL has passed on now but my husband is certain there was never a day in his adult life where he didn鈥檛 eat pasta at least once. They had an extensive vegetable garden, growing more than enough produce to feed themselves and enough Roma tomatoes to make and bottle at least 200 longneck beer bottles of passata sauce every year. They provided for not just themselves but various members of the extended family. My FIL also made incredible pizza in their wood fired indoor stove, the likes of which I鈥檝e never tasted anywhere else.

So for me, even though I am not Italian, nor is my family recent to this country (we probably date back to the invaders, to be honest), I still felt very connected to this story because it was so rich with experiences I have had shared with me from my MIL and the food, although slightly different to what my MIL makes (she鈥檚 Sicilian) is similar enough that it also brings lots of memories of dinners and events at their house. I also spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother growing up as well 鈥� Christmas holidays at her house before we moved to the same town and I went there very often after that. I actually connected with Sofie, because I remember being on that cusp of adulthood and wanting so much freedom but still not being quite there yet and having to do things that you feel you are far too old for, her chafing against her grandmother鈥檚 stricter rules and her impatience at her superstitions were also quite easily understood. I also felt very sorry for Sofie for not having the information on who her father was and how that had affected her. Although I sort of understood in the end, why her mother hadn鈥檛 told her, it still felt incredibly unfair to her not to have this information (not even his actual name) and to be ignored, cut off or redirected whenever she asked about it. And the secrecy led to something awkward for Sofie as well, which could鈥檝e been much worse.

I enjoyed both timelines immensely. I love the rapport of the women in the past, how they banded together and worked hard to keep things afloat when the men were taken, how they supported each other and stuck together throughout incredibly tough times and how they faced disgusting behaviour with honestly, much more grace than I could imagine myself having in the same situation. It鈥檚 hard though, because they knew they held no power in their predicament and any complaint they might鈥檝e made would be ignored, any retaliation a sign that they were fascists or whatever. It made me actually feel quite sick and angry reading how the women were treated (particularly by one man) and I鈥檝e no doubt it鈥檚 an accurate portrayal of what some people experienced.

This was engrossing and kept me very invested throughout the twists and turns, both in the past and in the present. I loved the recipes in the back too, of the dishes that are cooked throughout the story, that was a really nice and touch and I鈥檓 sure many people would enjoy giving some of those a go!

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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