Murder In Matera audiobook

Review originally published August 2017 Have you ever wondered where you came from? Are there murderers, thieves or just normal boring folks in your bloodline? Should you be concerned for your children with the whole nature vs nurture question, if some of your ancestors did bad things? This is the question Helene Stapinski found herself asking often and wondering if the stories she heard about her great-great-grandmother being a murderer were true. Helene was told that Vita, her great-great-grandmother, fled Italy in 1982 with her three children after committing murder. This story was told to her often by her mother who heard the story by her father, Grandpa Beansie. Grandpa Beansie himself had spent time in prison for stealing and other illegal activities. Helene was a journalist and was consumed with discovering the truth about her great-great-grandmother and her story partly due to the fact that Helene had two small children and one of them prone to temper tantrums and outbursts. Was this normal child behavior or was it something more, passed down from generation to generation. She had little to go on, just a death certificate for Vita, birth certificates of Vita's sons and a few street names. With this information she made the decision to take her two small children and her mother on a trip to Italy for a "vacation" to try and find some answers. Thus beginning her ten year journey to discover the truth about her ancestors and writing the book, Murder in Matera: a True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy. This true story takes you on the journey with Helene. The story goes from present day following Helene's journey of discovery to the past and Vita's journey from childhood to her death at the age of sixty-four. Unfortunately, Vita couldn't read or write so there were no journals for Helene to use so the voice of Vita is as Helene imagined her thoughts and reactions to be. She didn't have much luck on her first trip to Italy but going back ten years later she had much better results. She discovered Vita had left Italy to go to America in 1892, the same year a quarter million Italians emigrated to escape horrible hardships. It wasn't normal for women to travel without a man as Vita did and with her three children. Not three boys as the stories said but two boys and her seven year old daughter who unfortunately was lost on the long journey to America. Vitas life wasn't an easy one and the stories that Helene had been told starting at the age of four was filled with untruths and misinformation, yes there was a murder and Vita had an affair but some things were completely out of her control. Discovering your ancestors can be a fun and surprising journey. If local history is what you’re after check out local author on West Salem history, Errol Kindschy’s book, Taking Care of Business-the West Salem Way.There are some resources available off our website at lacrossecountylibrary.org. We have a link to Heritage Quest online, a collection of genealogical and historical sources. From our website click on Badgerlink on the bottom of the page and go to all resources, from there to heritage quest. Also check out our link for ECHO(exploring cultural history online) from the Winding Rivers Library System which has an online collection of pictures and a searchable database by town/village etc.Find this book and other titles within our catalog.

Reading this story was very relevant to me, and is in part why I found this book so interesting and captivating. Hearing about Helene's true story to find information about her southern Italian ancestors gave me a fantastic and detailed insight as to what life was like for the rural poor living in the Basilicata region of Italy in the 19th century. Vita, much like my great-great-grandmother and great-grandmother Concetta, lived in absolute poverty until they were able to make it to America and start a new life. I've had many struggles and ancestry dead-ends in researching my own Italian roots, and this novel inspired me to try again (and maybe travel to Italy again- now that I have an excuse)! The detailed characterization of Helene's own ancestors, done creatively and through her own imagination mixed with facts, was very realistic and made these people you hear about in history books seem more raw, more human. I loved learning about all the aspects of southern Italian life and culture, and for once learning just how bad the people had it. The one question that remains for me though, is what happened to Nunzia??!! I really want to know! Did she die? Was she kidnapped by some awful gang? Maybe we'll never know.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.From the opening paragraph, I was hooked. Stapinski combines her training as a journalist with years of hearing an incomplete family story about a murder to write her exploration of family roots. It’s difficult to pigeonhole this book into any specific genre. It is heavily memoir, with elements of travelogue, investigative reporting, criminal thriller, and creative imagining thrown in. She comes from a long line of storytellers, and, concerned over the possibility of inherited criminal genes, was determined to get to the bottom of this particular story. Stapinski’s writing is conversational, full of rich details and explanations of Italian culture. She uses an interesting technique of interspersing chapters about life in southern Italy during the 1800s, which is the time period of the alleged murder. These sections read like a novel, using Stapinski’s relatives as the main characters. There were no journals or letters, so Stapinski weaves meticulous research with the handed-down stories, and forms her own descriptions of life in the Basilicata region of Italy. It takes several trips to Italy, and hiring researchers and translators, but Stapinski does eventually untangle the mystery.

3.5

Reading this book, I felt like I was in Italy with the author as she searched for clues to her family's history. I have questions about my own family's history, so her story was especially intriguing. I love the descriptions of her trips to Italy; the first with her mother and two young children and the second, alone, ten years later. The beautiful landscapes and architectures are described beautifully. I felt like I was on the journey with her.Listening to family folklore, she fears there may be a criminal gene in her family. She believes that the answer lies with her great-great-grandmother, Vita, a woman who left Italy with her three children, so long ago. Her quest for details of a rumored, family murder involving Vita, is exciting. It is filled with disappointment, frustration, understanding, and acceptance. The truth isn't always what we expect it to be, yet it's wonderful to finally find it after a long, exhausting search. This is quite a fascinating journey. I'm delighted to have read the book!

A true crime/memoir that takes you to Italy in the 1800s and modern day as Stapinski tries to unravel a family mystery. Stapinski had grown up hearing a story about her great-great-grandmother Vita that ended with her committing murder and immigrating to the U.S. Stapinski had always worried that somehow this one person in her family had passed down something that created criminals throughout the generations, but she really didn’t know enough about Vita because the story had been told word-of-mouth. So Stapinski sets off to uncover the true story of who her great-great-grandmother really was. Told in parts as memoir as Stapinski travels to Italy to uncover the truth, and in parts as an imagining of Vita’s life (by Stapinski, based on research and how she would have felt), this is a really interesting read from the look at Southern Italy in the 1800s to the truth uncovered about Vita’s life.--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: Tess Gerritsen Q&A, International Crime Thrillers, & More

There is so much to love about this book. It is true page-turner, a twisty-turny tale of a woman's search for the truth about her great-great grandmother--a murderer, according to family legend. It’s also a lovingly told family saga, with the no-bullshit humor I've come to expect from all of Helene's books.

I adore Italy (I come from an Italian family) and very much enjoyed reading this book which combines history/mystery with the author's own personal experiences. A well written and very interesting read. If you like Italian history, this book is for you. I won a copy of this book from the publisher.

This was not the type of story that I expected to become so attached. But from the first page I could not put it down. It was as if I was traveling with Helene on a quest to help solve an intricate puzzle. If I did not know this was a true story it could very well be a top rate suspense.

The subtitle to this family history murder mystery promises a LOT–and it delivers! As a child, Helene Stapinski heard about her great-great-grandmother who fled Italy–with young children in tow–after being involved in a murder. Parts of the story were vague: who was killed? Why? When? How? Nobody knew. But other details were startlingly precise and consistent. She had to leave her husband behind. A man named Grieco helped her escape. A child was lost on the way to America. Years later, Helene embarked on a 10-year quest to learn the truth behind this family legend. Her journey took her to Matera, Italy, and eventually to a 600-page criminal court file from 1872.There was a murder. But it wasn’t exactly as the family had said. Helene gradually leaned that her family was not who she thought they were. And that meant Helene herself was not who she thought she was. The rest, you can read for yourself. The noted journalist continues to unravel a past that she explored in her fantastic first family history memoir, Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History. This new book is part history, part re-imagined family story. It’s a story of poverty and power, love, tragic decisions, and a courageous and desperate woman’s leap to a new life across the ocean. And it's also an honest memoir about the challenges of a mid-life mother trying to untangle her past while at the same time trying to raise children (and figure out what to tell them about their past). I interviewed the author about this book for the Genealogy Gems Podcast and it was a fun conversation.

I learned so much about the history of Italy and the lives of its citizens who immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. Helena Stapinski takes us on a journey as she researches her family history and discovers murder, deceit, love, incredible loss, strength, and resiliency. This is a true story that is written like historical fiction. The characters come alive as Helena slowly discovers answers to the mystery of her heritage.

Thoroughly enjoyed this little random find from Half Priced Books! I found myself celebrating along with the author as she discovered more and more about her family history, and I loved it for her when she found resolution for herself/family.

So good! The prose is beautifully written and the journey the author takes you on to uncover the truth of her great, great grandmother is intriguing.

An interesting story that combines true crime and genealogy (sort of a specialty of this author). Lots of interesting twists and turns and Stapinski's speculative narrative chapter's are believable and well-written.

"She hadn't written about others' adventures, but had lived her own, which gave way to ours. She and all those millions of immigrants--your family included--who had come to make their lives and the lives of their children better." Stapinski's incredible detective work, against all odds, uncovers the real story of her great-great-great-grandmother, Vita Galitelli, rumored to have come to the U.S. after a murder.

Largely because I've spent time in small Municipios in Basilicata digging through dusty old records in search of family stories, I loved this book. Stapinski's intuited motivation--that by bringing her family history to light she'll help heal inherited brokenness--I think is spot on, especially considering current research about inherited trauma.