When we were strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt

Our book for September, When we were strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt drew mixed reactions from members.

The novel is set in the 1800s and follows the story of Irma Vitale, who, as a young woman, leaves her poverty-stricken home in the remote mountain village of Opi, Italy, and possessing only her sewing skills and a small dowry, travels to a new life in America.

Her mother has warned Irma that to leave the village means that she will die with strangers and Irma certainly has more than her fair share of near-fatal experiences in her new country. But she battles on with pluck and determination to finish up as a medical student in San Francisco (her sewing skills put to new use) with a kind man at her side. At the end of the book, both of them realise how far they have come from their village lives.

On the positive side, this book has some evocative and sensual descriptions of the passage to America crammed into the hold of a ship and of the narrow circumstances of Irma's new life sewing collars in a sweatshop and then later sewing the marvellously elaborate fashions of the rich women in the late 1800s. The author has clearly researched the economic circumstances of the time for immigrants to America from all over the world and the story is apparently based on the history of one of Schoenewaldt’s own family members. One of the diamonds in the book is the brief episode when Irma hears snatches of an unknown song on the bus sung by one of the immigrant men and how another man on the bus enthusiastically greets the singer with hugs on recognising the music of his own village.

However, the plot leans towards the melodramatic given the number of traumatic situations Irma must handle and the lightness and rapidity with which the author deals with these in unfolding her complex plot. Some episodes stretched credibility such as the ease in which Irma robs her employer, her acquaintance, Sophia’s openness about how she earns her income, and even her acceptance as a female student in a medical school. Those of us who sew found it incredible that Irma could embroider as a hitchhiker on a bumpy cart or fix the tear in a woman’s elaborate dress in such record time. Irma’s thinking is very modern, too, and despite her simple and uneducated Catholic upbringing she shows modern compassion and friendship towards a lesbian couple on board ship and more surprising forgiveness for a man who brutally assaults her. The ending left some of us flat as it is rather abrupt and seems to suggest the author was not sure how to finish.

That said, with its flaws, the author’s debut novel succeeds as an enjoyable read for many readers, including several of our members. Many people have awarded the book four stars and higher on GoodReads and Amazon. It will be interesting to see how the book compares and contrasts with our February book which is also about a young female immigrant, Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

Pamela Schoenewaldt lived for 10 years in a small town outside Naples, Italy. She now lives in Tennessee. She taught writing for the University of Maryland and the University of Tennessee. After When we were strangers was published in 2011, Ms Schoenewaldt went on to write other historical novels, Swimming in the Moon (2013) and Under the Same Blue Sky (2015). Her short stories have been published in literary magazines in England, France, Italy and the US.