Tales from the wood’s edge - a memoir
by Wilma Giordano Laryn
In a reversal of the usual ‘Tuscan Dream’, a small Italian family of parents, daughter and dog, move to New Zealand in search of adventure. Here are their stories, as well as memories of life in Italy and Japan, of holidays in Kenya, Turkey and other.This is also a woman’s personal story of emigrating to a new country and integrating with the local way of life, something many will identify with. They will recognize their own efforts to meet new challenges while maintaining their core personalities as defined by their country of origin and their personal and collective memories.Inquisitive readers will find the book’s themes stimulating and the style engaging. They will immerse themselves in a tapestry of people, animals, places, landscapes, colours, buildings, music, wine, food.
“… unless we make things personal, they may not really matter in the end and fade away.
These tales are as personal as storytelling can be, yet they have something to say for
everybody – beautifully and painfully true to life as they are to the author’s life.”
Marco Sonzogni
Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington About the author
Wilma spent the first half of her life in Italy, then moved to New Zealand in 1996. In Christchurch Wilma has worked with the Dante Society as a committee member for 22 years and was president for 6. She has started the Christchurch Dante Language School and the Festival Ciao Italia. She has run a radio programme, Cartolina, and a TV cooking series; she has coached the opera chorus and taught Italian for Musicians at the Canterbury University. She has been a member of the ComItEs in 2015, besides working as Marketing Manager for the family wine business. Wilma received from the Italian Government a civil knighthood, the “Star of the Italian Solidarity”, for her activity as a journalist and teacher, and a gold medal from the Dante Alighieri headquarters. After retiring and moving to Auckland in 2018, she finally completed her book of memoirs. No surprise that it counts some 400 pages!
Category: non fiction, life in Italy, life in New Zealand, wine-making
Pages: 400 - Size: 6" x 9" - softback ISBN: 978-0-473-65322-4
Kindle edition ISBN 978-0-473-65325-5
Publication date: October 2022
Publisher: Wilma Giordano Laryn
Distributor: Nationwide Book Distributors
thank you to the organisers Festival Italiano - Auckland Newmarketnz Only Events, to all our Dante Auckland friends who volonteered at out stand 
and everyone who attended. You can find the Dante FB photo album by clicking here.
