Journey Without a Map
Even as generations pass, cultural pride persists in the very DNA of those who were raised in Italian immigrant families. Donna Caruso’s Journey Without A Map appropriately begins with pasta cooking instructions, and from there the aromas of tomatoes, olives and red wine weave through her sensuous stories. Whether making connections between her Uncle Nick’s nose and her Roman ancestors, or detailing the daily rituals of her shepherdess mother on the Italian hillsides, Caruso relays the information in broad colourful strokes that are at once both inviting and humorous. Through the redolence of food and inducement of memory, Caruso draws us into her rich heritage. She illuminates the wisdom of her parents that guided her through her growing years, but confides that it was their timeless love that sustained her through her own darkest hours of breast cancer and family break up.
“Journey Without a Map is a journey directly to the heart of family. And that’s one trip Donna Caruso needs no map for — she is a master navigator who intuitively knows the way, and how to tell some great rollicking stories along the way. Her tales of family and being Italian are hilarious, moving, and rich as her homemade marinara sauce.”
— Dave Margoshes
“This is vintage Caruso — funny, compelling, full of the most wonderful characters. But there is also poignancy here, sometimes dark, a yearning for a golden childhood long past. Reading Journey Without a Map, I felt envious, wishing I too had grown up Italian in New Jersey.”
— Maggie Siggins
“…Donna Caruso’s memories are painted with bold strokes in full, vivid colour – earthy tones of olive and brown, bright glints of garden green and sky blue, accented in the sunny yellow of a long-ago spring coat and the crimson-red lips, nails and clothing of her mother.”
— Myrna Williams – read the full review here.
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Under Her Skin
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Published Works
2005 WASPS, The Grist Mill, Anthology published by the Valley Writers Guild, Ottawa, Ontario, Larry Turner Award
2005 THE CLOTHESLINE, radio play, WHERE IS HERE? Anthology
2005 RANT OF THE BEAUTIFUL ENTITLEMENT, SPRING Magazine
2003 ANGLICANS, SPRING Magazine
2002 MY PERSONALS, First place, Writers Federation of New Brunswick
2001 THE SCROTUM, SPRING Magazine
2000 DOGHOUSE NAMED DESIRE, Rhubarb Magazine.
2000 TILL DEATH DO US PART, 2000th CRACKED WHEAT, Coteau Books.
1999 UNDER HER SKIN, collection of short stories, now in second printing, Thistledown Press
1997 ANGELUS, or BLESSED ARE THE UNINITIATED FOR THEY SHALL GO FISHING, Wilfred Laurier University Press anthology, VOICES and
ECHOES.
1995 THE FIG TREE, in Oberon press anthology, GOING HOME.
1994 A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO PERSONAL HYGIENE, Prairie Fire magazine’s erotic literature competition winner; published 1994, Prairie Fire Magazine.
1992 HIS BOWELS, short story, in the humor anthology, 200% CRACKED WHEAT, also 1991, Grain Magazine, Fall issue.
1991 THE FIG TREE, chapbook, published by Hag Papers, an imprint of Underwhich Editions, Saskatoon/Toronto.
1991 PALUMELLO (also titled LULLABY), published in three anthologies, OUT OF PLACE, Coteau Books, HOME AND HOMELAND, Rubicon publishers, Toronto, and MULTICULTURALISM, McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Selected for the curriculum in the Ontario high school curriculum.
1991 ZINI and ZABA : TOGETHER AGAIN, in the radio play anthology, STUDIO ONE, Coteau Books.
1989 Songs and poems in JUMBO GUMBO, a children’s anthology published by Coteau Books.
1988 NeWest Review, 1885, Briarpatch Magazine, feature articles on wife battering in rural areas.
Donna’s profile page on The Writers Union of Canada website.