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An Italian Down Under: A Migrant Woman's Tale

by Cloris De Matteis

470 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-2580; ISBN 1-4251-5736-X; US$29.95, C$29.95, EUR20.46, £15.46

Follow the struggles of an Italian migrant woman starting a new life with her young family in her adopted country Australia, as she battles through love, prejudices and cultural differences.

About the Book

Right from the beginning this enthralling story confronts the reader with the seemingly endless difficulties that Italian immigrant woman Cloris De Matteis faces 'Down Under' in her new adopted country Australia. Cloris has an exceptional ability to breathe vivid expression into the many experiences of an Italian woman in search of a new life away from a strict and abusive childhood. Spurned by her family and eventually disappointed by all the men in her life, she tries to cope with a young family in a foreign culture brimming with prejudices and scorn. Like most journeys, the importance is not reaching the final destination but what happens along the way. Cloris's witty observations and her keen descriptive talents give the reader a profound insight into the people she meets and the unexpected turns her life takes. She returns several times to Italy, but her family never welcomes her. She struggles with her feelings and lack of love, marrying twice to emotionally dead men, but with the determination of a true Aries she always manages to overcome her setbacks. This is a truly inspiring story – a tale that ends back where it started from, but one that provides a profound insight into the forces that drive someone to seek a new life on the other side of the world and later is courageous enough to admit and analyse her wrong decisions. It is a refreshing outsider's view of the diverse struggles she discovers 'Down Under' and the battles to overcome them.

To buy the Italian version of the book, please go to www.clorisdematteis.com.

About the Author

Cloris De Matteis is a "nome de plume". The author was born in 1943 in northern Italy across the lake from Switzerland to a middle class family. After surviving an abusive and loveless childhood, in 1966 she married Pierantonio, an architect who convinced her to migrate to Australia. In late 1968 they set sail on the "Guglielmo Marconi" with their young son Patrizio, arriving in Australia early 1969. A year later her second son Damiano was born. She worked many different jobs, from tea lady to administration, and at two Italian newspapers in Sydney as a translator and classified editor. Her natural talent, cooking with a passion, lead her to open an Italian regional restaurant "Old Piedmont Inn" in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. She relocated there with her second husband Federico, a financial manager at an Italian confectionery factory located in Lithgow. Her life could not be considered a bunch of roses, going through endless trials and tribulations. Her real ambition has always been writing, and as soon as she returned to Italy in the year 2000, free from any ties, she put pen to paper to write her memoirs. Sydney was always in her heart, however, and after spending six years in Italy in self imposed exile to write, she has come back realising 'there were too many Italians in Italy for my liking'. She is happy to be reunited with her family and many friends in Australia, the 'Down Under' she now considers her home.