The Rock & the Rose: Novellas Volume 1

Stories of Love, Life, Passion, Resilience, Resistance, and Recovery in Northern Italy

Experience the lives of three women-two Italian and one Lebanese-who each in their own way influence the life of Valentina Marchese, the chief protagonist of the Rock & the Rose Saga.

Know Your Own Happiness

A timeless story of an Italian woman before her time.

Loredana, a young mother coming of age in Bologna, Italy, at the outbreak of World War II, soon found herself both a widow and a neighborhood saint. She couldn't imagine a world outside of Bologna, nor could she imagine she and her young daughter, Mariangela, living anywhere else. At least, until Loredana met Carlo.

Carlo De Marco, a U.S. Army Captain, swept Loredana off her feet in Bologna, then swept his new bride and stepdaughter away to America, as Loredana joined thousands of other Italian war brides moving to the United States. Loredana and Mariangela found a new hometown, a new family, and a new world different in all the ways expected. But it was the unexpected ways that proved the biggest challenge. Still, Loredana believed that Trenton, New Jersey, would be their forever home.

So why was Loredana back in Bologna?

Not Within the Stars

In a world where everyone was a survivor-some survived more.

Silvia Marchese, daughter of a Rimini fishing family, forced to grow up before her time, found herself before the age of sixteen responsible for a house and her younger brother, after their parents and two older brothers died when their fishing boat was bombed-collateral damage of WWII. After the death of grandmother, Silvia finds herself ostracized by her remaining family, only able to count on only her brother Donni and their boarder, Gregorio, for companionship and friendship.

Silvia marries Gregorio and they build a life in Rimini, Italy. Silvia appreciates the maturing influence the vivacious Mariangela, a young woman he met at a Rimini beach, exerts on Donni. Silvia is all too happy to witness her brother's marriage to Mariangela, happier still at the birth of their first child, Valentina. Yet tragedy is never far from Silvia's side, causing her to wonder if she might ever know true happiness. At least, until the track & field championships in Torino.

Is Torino where Silvia finally finds lasting happiness?

The Lovely Face of Light

Lose your heart-and find your soul-in Lebanon.

Aisha, born a Shia Muslim in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, moved with her parents to the mountain town of Harissa as a teenager. There, she discovered the world was not just far bigger but far different than anything she'd imagined. Aisha finally found Allah but on a different path... a path that also led her to Marco.

Marco Bracco, a native of the Puglia region of Italy, had come to Harissa on behalf of his Italian construction firm to manage a significant project for his company. Marco had expected to be in Lebanon for a year or so-and he hadn't expected to meet anyone like Aisha. And just as unexpectedly, Marco soon found himself wondering if Lebanon was meant to be his home.

But how was Marco supposed to convince a Lebanese Shia Muslim father that a Roman Catholic man-an Italian foreigner, no less-was a worthy suitor for his daughter Aisha?

Perhaps Basi could help.