Review Tour & Giveaway: A Shadow On Merrimack River By Daniela Alibrandi

A year in the United States, a fantastic opportunity to forget the events of the past. Then Diana will return to Rome, but if life in the United States will be a positive experience, she will be able to return. And Diana strongly hopes she will come back.

 

In an evening of early spring, however, while with her friend Jenny, an obese girl, she is enjoying to skate on the Merrimack River still frozen, she doesn’t realize she has reached a point where the ice is breaking.

 

In the fierce struggle that she engages with the force of the river waters, that with the beginning of the thaw are moving, Diana understands the plate is too thin, and may not hold up. And below, after hearing a thud, Diana realizes that glides silently a human body, a corpse from which she could be sucked into the river deepness. It’s the beginning of a nightmare in which Diana will live during the months that remain until her departure from what she had considered a quiet and peaceful little town. Until the solution of the mystery which will take place with a breathtaking end.

The events take place in a small town in the Northeast of the United States in the middle 60ties. Many are the descriptions of the places related to the nature and landscapes as well as to the complexity of American society. There is no lack of historical references.   

 

 

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Excerpt:


Diana, however, preferred to listen to Jenny and picked a spot on the river icy surface where, beating with skates, they delimited an area that appeared solid and secure. Besides, the only ice skating rink was on the other side of the woods, and was obtained by freezing the large swimming pool water. It was easy to get lost in the scrub forest during frequent snow storms.

She decided, anyway, to please Jenny, another five minutes weren’t much. In those last moments she wanted to reach, with a generous impulse, the boundary of the safe perimeter they had drawn, a last thrill before returning. While she was lightly sliding, she heard a thud below the ice, curbed up and realized that, at that point, the ice plate was thinner and was giving way. She shivered, stood still, every movement could have been fatal. Suddenly she realized it was almost dark, the ice beneath her feet couldn’t stand and she would be floated below. She had the only strength to bend her head forward and to look beneath the surface. As she feared, she could guess the water moving and clearly felt that something bumped the ice thin layer. Her eyes dilated in the incoming dark and carefully observed what was happening. It seemed an object, no, it was a dark form carried slowly by the current, and looking closer, what had hit the surface was one hand outstretched as asking for help! The dark shadow passed slowly beneath her and slipped, revealing also the shape of a head and a swollen body. If the ice plate broke, she would have been swallowed up and carried away by that corpse. It would have dragged her along into the deep darkness of the river.

My View: This book was a bit of a challenge at times {being translated from Italian}some phrases took me a bit to decipher. This did not take away from the main story. It is a tale of being treated as an outcast because of coming from another country, the way some shy away from people that are different. You become very connected to the character because of her treatment. The journey of finding a body within the water, adds the mystery. The building suspense and great character development leads to an unexpected ending.
 

The author Daniela Alibrandi, was born in Rome, Italy while she has lived a meaningful period of her adolescence in the United States of America, where she attended the St. Francis School of Manchester, New Hampshire. Returned to Italy, she ended the classical studies. In her professional life she has experienced different contexts that have enriched her personal baggage.

 

Working in the public sector she dealt, besides, of International Relationships and Cultural Exchanges with the foreign Countries, within the European Union and the Council of Europe, taking care of the Italian edition of some official texts as, for instance, "Illiteracy, a European Comparison", edit by Italian Ministry of Education. Daniela has also completed cultural exchanges and has realized the "Peace Program" with the state of N.Y. In the private life, she is married and has two children.

Always prone to the writing she took part in various literary contests. In 2010 she won the national literary contest Pegaso Flight with the novel "The Bitter Companion", published in the contest harvest edited by the Italian Superior Institute of Health. With the story "Her Light Steps", in January 2011, she reached as finalist the literary contest

Comparison", edit by Italian Ministry of Education. Daniela has also completed cultural exchanges and has realized the "Peace Program" with the state of N.Y. In the private life, she is married and has two children.

Always prone to the writing she took part in various literary contests. In 2010 she won the national literary contest Pegaso Flight with the novel "The Bitter Companion", published in the contest harvest edited by the Italian Superior Institute of Health. With the story "Her Light Steps", in January 2011, she reached as finalist the literary contest the gardens of S.Angel Castel in the magic of Roman monuments and summer night. "No Steps On the Snow", on July 5th 2013, has won the important literary award Circe, assigned by readers and famous writers and journalists. This book was presented successfully with the patronage of Rome, Santa marinella, Cerveteri, Bracciano and Ladispoli city halls, for its historical and cultural value. The theme treated by the book has been the object of various interviews, among which the one of the important Italian newspaper “Messaggero”, of radio broadcasts and local T.V. telecasts.

In December 2011 Daniela won the national literary prize The City and the Sea, with the short novel "The Last House" awarding a publishing contract with the publishing house Apollo Edizioni. The contest was banished by the Italian Pro Loco Union, patronized by the Ladispoli City Hall, in cooperation with Apollo Edizioni, Etruriain.tv and Centromareradio. The story "The Last House" is published in the volume The City and the Sea, related to the contest.

In June 2012, thanks to the award she won in The City and the Sea contest, Apollo Edizioni published her book "Rachel's Child", successfully presented to the Calabrian Book Fair in Lamezia Terme. The book has aroused much interest in its treated matters and has received good critiques. It was even object of the telecast “Literary Appetizer" 2012 and a broadcast "Everything in an hour" in the summer 2012. It remains memorable, on August 31st 2012, the public conversation with the Facebook readers, organized to speak about the themes treated in the thriller. In less than a few minutes, in fact, more than 100 comments were totaled. Since September 2012, the Italian Magazine Friday’s Nettle has published each month a short novel written by Daniela Alibrandi.

 

The following are the novel successfully published: The Bitter Companion, Her Light Steps, The Last Home, Once Upon a Time There Was a Beautiful Woman, The Reunion, The Kiss of Old Ones, Nobody’s Land, The Epiphany’s True Story, The Mild Wind of April, Those Four Minutes, The Missing Generation. In November 2012 her thriller "A Shade on Merrimack River" has been published at the beginning in the Italian Edition “Un’Ombra sul Fiume Merrimack” as an e-book on Amazon, then in March 2013 it was edited as a hard copy by Youcanprint, to satisfy those readers who wished to have a traditional edition. In August 2013 the book has been published in the English Edition on Amazon. com, .ca, .jp, .uk etc… This thriller is set in Manchester, N.H. in the middle 60ties and threats a delicate matter. Relevant the descriptions of New Hampshire nature. In Italy it has already received good literary critiques and it is the first one of Daniela Alibrandi’s books to be translated into English.

Daniela Alibrandi has a big literary production. Her work particularity concerns the themes treated in her stories, of social relevance, usually set in contemporary historical periods. Italian literary critics have spent many words emphasizing her fluid and involving literary style, as well as her literary work great essence.

  

Website  *  Facebook

 

A page devoted to the English Edition “A Shade on Merrimack River”  https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Shadow-on-Merrimack-iver/1424294097784048  

 

And an email where you can contact her : daniela.alibrandi@gmail.com

 

She is also on Linkedin and Twitter with her personal profile Daniela Alibrandi

One randomly drawn winner will win a $25 Amazon Gift Card from Daniela.Be sure to follow the tour and comment on each blog to increase your chances at winning. Good Luck!http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/11/review-tour-shadow-on-merrimack-river.html 



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