Deeply Rooted in Faith & Family
by Ginda Ayd Simpson

A review by Anthony Buccino

If you've ever dreamed of packing up all your belongings and moving to a beautiful farmhouse with a breath-taking view of the unforgettable countryside of Umbria in Italy, it would do you well to first read Deeply Rooted in Faith & Family by Ginda Ayd Simpson (290 pages).

Through a series of fate twists, the author - an artist - and her husband abandon a comfortable life in Egypt where his oil industry job has folded after two decades and decide at 50 what's next!

It turns out to be house packing in Egypt, house hunting in Italy and dealing with international shipments (of car and crates) and phone companies and paper work, and finding 'the' house. Says Simpson, "It scares me to think that all our worldly possessions, except for the contents of our suitcases, are in the hands of strangers."

Simpson, who is one of 11 children, weaves chapters of her family history - tied to Italy and tells parallel stories of what led up to the idea that life in Italy could be beautiful, and the strength of the roots pulling her back to her ancestral earth.

Here, in part is how the artist as author describes a relative in Italy: "... Her skin was smooth and dark as an olive but her hands were rough and swollen from her labors. Her thin lips were spread tight across an overbite in a lock of determination and concentration ..." and a later visit to this same relative yields the following, "Caterina wastes no time in beginning food preparations. Visits with Ciccio without eating a full-blown meal are unheard of and surprise visits are no exception."

Finding their new home in Italy is like falling in love for the first time. When it happens, you know it. So we work through the trials of this dream house and that dream house. That includes a house that, after the real estate tour, the owner decided not to sell. All until we find 'the' dream house.

The journey, well documented here, is the thing. In search of a home, Simpson observes, "The gray skies match my mood but even when I am most dispirited I cannot deny the allure of the sea, an intense blue ribbon of water that meets the misty horizon with defiance."

It’s the defiance of every roadblock to change and moving forward that pulls you along as your read Deeply Rooted.

A colleague tells me that the paperwork trials and bureaucratic tribulations endured by the author and her family are commonplace to this day and likely will be the same hundreds of years from now.

It's the beauty of the place, both in the family flashbacks and the new discoveries in each walk in what will become El Marsam, that serves to overcome the intolerable wait for paperwork to bring a car in from Egypt, or proceed with daughter Bridget and Darin's wedding.

The artist often stops to smell the roses, or in this case the fresh flowers in the groves, and the food.

Oh, the food. Everywhere the food has its influences in this book. Every family gathering has more food than anyone can eat. And huge helpings of loving-family-around you with each bite!

The artist as writer observes in word-pictures. For instance, you can see the night sky here: "... the sky that only this morning was an impenetrable white is now a deep blue-violet; the acacia tree creates an ink-black filigreed silhouette against the brushed silver moon."

I could have done without so much attention being paid to the daughter's wedding. Not that I'm against weddings, or living happily ever after-ing, but I would have preferred more on the hills and the landscape and the artwork. But the wedding details and story does serve to make the new country home, to make Italy the place where the family not only is from, as in generations past, but where they have returned, and will be from for generations to come.

I hated to finish this book, to leave the sweet, homey visit with artist Ginda Ayd Simpson and her family through their trials. But as her new neighbors might say "basta!" enough. The only way to keep enjoying this story is to pick up and head out to the artist's bed and breakfast in Perugia. You'll already know the story of how the house got its address, recently, at the end of the 20th Century, when it finally needed one for the new American family that came home to El Marsam, a farmhouse with a view.

This is not a book you are likely to come across in the book store. It has been printed in Italy and in Italy, and an American publisher should look into our own version. Deeply Rooted is is a delightful and enchanting book of an artist’s journey home. It is one you should consider owning for your personal library, and donating a separate copy to your local public library.
 

For ordering information... visit Gidna Simpson

For visitor's info visit El Marsam

More reviews by Anthony Buccino