La Strada Da Seguire: The Road to Follow

During the challenging years between the Great War and the Second World War, ordinary people find themselves pushed to their limits. In La Strada da Seguire: The Road to Follow, Susan Toscan uses fiction - inspired by her own family history - to tell the tale of two seemingly unrelated communities, one in Australia and the other in Italy. In 1930s Griffith, New South Wales, an emerging farming district, a family works diligently to build a life on their farm. When Italian migrants move to the town, bringing invaluable knowledge and commitment to hard work, thriving businesses are born. The new neighbours struggle to develop a successful multicultural society. Things are no easier in Italy. In the uncertain years following the Great War, everyone hopes for some stability. Barely recovered from the Great War, they now find themselves caught up in the inescapable wave of another. Desperate for a change, a young woman looks for an escape from her frightfully mundane existence. As the Second World War breaks out, the young men from both of these communities are called to service. Ripped from the only lives they know and the relative safety of home, they must now face an unpredictable future with as much dignity and bravery as they can muster, against forces and events far beyond their control. Life, love and tragedy are all part of the new world, and the members of these communities must now choose between being victims - or survivors.