Small Change
Lynn Rodolico, 2013
Eccolo Editions
334 pp.
ISBN-13: 9788890698668
Summary
NEWBORN TWINS ABANDONED IN DUMPSTER
From an act of desperation is born the inspiring tale of love and good fortune, not only for the twins but for the couple who have been waiting to adopt.
Set in England and Italy, Small Change is a poignant recounting of love, loss and steadfast commitment.
Rich in empathy and humor, embedded in delightful, thought-provoking prose, best-selling author Lynn Rodolico offers a viable alternative to the modern-day despair of the individual’s inability to make a difference.
Half the proceeds from Small Change are donated to Children’s Rights charities (From the publisher.)
See the video.
Author Bio
• Birth—April 1, 1953
• Where—Santa Monica, California, USA
• Education—Univeristy of California, Santa Barbara
• Awards—Book of the Month Award (France)
• Currently—lives in Sicily and Florence, Italy
Lynn April Barber Rodolico was born in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in the coastal town of Pacific Palisades. Her earliest, happiest memories come from inventing stories beneath the large fruit trees in her backyard, and later, when she was old enough to roam, the dramatic pounding of the Pacific Ocean below the town's cliffs.
Writing had always been a favorite pastime but it wasn't until she left her job as Administrator of a Shakespearean theatre company in Massachusetts that she started to write full time. She gave herself one year in which to succeed or fail as a writer. To perfect her skills, first in the Berkshires and later in New York City, she wrote commercial novels in the Romance genre under a series of pseudonyms. Her success was quick and exceptional.
Lynn's first published novel, Passion’s Flight sold 350,000 copies and was translated into seven languages. Her second novel, Heart & Soul, proved a greater success, both commercially and literary, winning the Book of the Month Award in France. Opening Bid was another best seller romance and was translated into eleven languages. Intimates moved out of the romance category, allowing for real character development, but its circulation was thwarted when her editor changed publishing houses and the book remained orphaned in the warehouse.
In 1985 Lynn moved to Italy for a year to finish a novel. On her first day in Florence she met the man who would transform her life from a solitary search to a unified communion. Two Seas is a fictionalized memoir of their life on an olive farm in the Tuscan hills and their unexpected love affair with the Island of Sicily. Her most recent novel, Small Change, takes place in Italy and England. It was published in 2013. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Tender and eloquent...an extraordinary eye for detail.
Trisha Thomas - AP Journalist, Rome
A novel of great intercultural sensitivity.
Charles de Chassiron, London
The new book by Lynn Rodolico, Small Change, marks an interesting deviation from her previous novel, Two Seas. The change is not only literary in form, but alters the perspective about the essence of life itself. Two Seas is a romantic discovery of a new land where nature dominates the story with a continuous sense of wonder, which leads to an exploration of the self, whereas Small Change takes a modernistic approach, where the characters (some of whom appear in Two Seas) move the plot forward with their behavior, feelings and thoughts, while nature remains discreetly in the background. Written in a fluid and personal style, almost like an Impressionist painting, Small Change presents a fascinating story set in both England and Italy. Starting with the misery of a tragic decision, Small Change leads the reader through a tangled web of beautifully described situations, to a happy conclusion which, in a sort of modern catharsis, will transport the reader to an optimistic and confident view of the spontaneous goodness of humanity.
Luigi Giannitrapani, Genova
Discussion Questions
1. Love is presented in many forms in Small Change: a mother and her children; a wife and husband; a son’s devotion for his parents; sisters and friends. Which of these relationships is most successful and why? How are they similar or different from your definition of love and caring?
2. Small Change begins with a desperate act and deals with difficult issues, but Rodolico proposes the novel as “a viable alternative to modern-day despair." Did you find the novel inspiring? Did it make you want to better the world, even in a small way?
3. One of the characters is a self-confessed liar, and therefore may be considered an unreliable narrator. Did this short-coming influence your sense of compassion for her? Or did the complication in her character make her seem more human and therefore more worthy of your sympathy?
4. The protagonist, Christine, has a sixth sense, if and when she chooses to follow it. Does the unexplainable spiritual aspect of the story seem realistic or far-fetched?
5. Each of the characters in Small Change experiences an alteration during the course of the book. How does Thomas change? Christine? Anne? Does this metamorphosis occur for the secondary characters as well? Has their transformation altered you, as a reader?
6. In Rodolico’s previous novel, Two Seas, nature played a significant role, almost as if it were the protagonist of the story. How is nature portrayed in Small Change? How does it alter as the story shifts from the English countryside to London to Florence, Italy? Do the characters behave differently according to the nature that surrounds them?
7. Was the unfolding of Small Change predictable or unexpected? Were you surprised by the book's ending? Were you sorry to say goodbye to the characters?
8. How would you categorize Small Change? Is it a love story? A story about adoption? Family and Relationships? Mothers and Children? Human Rights?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)