A Beauty Unbroken - Paperback

by Deborah Russo (Author)

A Beauty Unbroken is a story of sorrow and despair, tragedy and loss, of intrigue and passion full of remarkable courage, love, and resilience. It happens in the majestic mountains and cliffs of Southern Italy in the Campania Region with views of the Bay of Naples, Sorrento, Positano, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Born in 1948, thirteen-year-old Violetta Yanonne, a smart, noncompliant, and sassy Italian Catholic girl, lives on a farm with her grandparents and single mother in Benevento, Italy. While longing to be loved, she's a dreamer in search to know who her father is.

Violetta has a belligerent mistrust of adults who insist she marry young, be a dutiful wife, and ignore her passion for a college degree and a career. Having been exposed to the effects of lies and deception, scandals, pedophilia, rape, and murder, Violetta is skeptical of the Catholic Church and its patriarchal teachings. In her discontent, she takes to the mountains and sea. She follows her intuition, feeling its presence deep within her heart.

Determined to leave her home country for a better life, Violetta avoids a committed relationship with Julius, who is in love with her, even though they have a deep love for one another since childhood. Her biggest dream is to go to the United States as a singer-actress in New York City with aspirations of being a teacher of drama or a journalist, where she can use her voice as an advocate for female equality.