Maria Allen

[This is a review I wrote in 2010]

** A very good debut, resonant with powerful imagery of the mountainous Italian countryside **

Before the Earthquake is the impassioned story of a young teenage girl, Concetta and the remarkable story of what happened to her in the hot, sultry summer weeks leading up to an earthquake in the remote mountainous village where she lives with her family in southern Italy.

The period is around the early 1900s, strict morals and codes of behaviour are observed, especially essential for young women if they are to be accepted and ultimately married into another respectable local family. The community is rural, the villagers predominantly farmers, and options for young women are limited - a choice of marriage, spinsterhood, or the religious life - with the decisions ultimately being taken by the men of the household, although of course fathers and brothers could be indulgent and girls would hope that their preferences would be taken into account. However there are no such choices for Concetta who is forced to grow up very fast - faster than her older sisters - when she wakes up from a coma after being seriously injured in the earthquake, to the gradual realisation that she is pregnant. To avoid family disgrace, and the ruination of her sisters' chances for making good marriages as well, Concetta is married off hastily to neighbours who owe the family an old debt of honour. Concetta surreptitiously does her own investigatng to try and discover what happened to her before the earthquake, and who the father of her child could possibly be.

This comes across as the very real story of what happens to a young girl suddenly removed from her family and placed in strange surroundings with a virtual stranger for a husband. Concetta's predicament is every bit believable of early 20th-century rural Italy and although the mystery of her pregnancy is less historically believable it makes for a good mystery and engages our sympathy for Concetta's plight. How can she be culpable if she cannot remember what happened?

A very good debut, resonant with powerful imagery of the mountainous Italian countryside and the hard grind of everyday hand-to-mouth existence in these rural communities. I find it lacks just a little sparkle and grit in places, which is why I have only rated 4 stars, but it's a very good read and I'll look forward to seeing what Maria Allen produces next.… (meer)

When an earthquake hits rural Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century, fifteen-year-old Concetta is injured and loses her memory. It soon becomes apparent that she is pregnant, but has no recollection of how this came about. To avoid becoming a social pariah, she is quickly married off to a local boy whose family owe hers a favour. She struggles through the early part of her marriage, and eventually the mystery is unravelled as her memory slowly returns.

I picked this one up in the library on a whim. I don’t often do that; my wishlist is 800 books long and rapidly expanding so I tend to gravitate towards books of which I’ve already heard. It held my attention and I did find it excellent in places, but I’m not blown away by it. A good read, but not great.… (meer)