Media Reviews
'Set in Italy on the brink of the Second World War, KATE CATERINA belongs in the great tradition of the European novel: it has breadth of outlook and bristles with political ideas. At its best, it reminded me of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's THE LEOPARD - and there can be no higher comparison...In lesser hands, the dilemma of conflicting loyalties would provide the mainspring of the narrative. But Riviere is not interested in simplistic patterns. Political labels count for less than individual foibles. War may be raging across Europe, but it is in the minutiae of the lives of the characters, beautifully observed, that the story takes on light and shade. Some of the best scenes are set in a tiny village in the Appenines, where Luigi and Caterina have taken refuge from the fighting. In the small change of country life, the pristine landscape, the shifting seasons, the preparation of simple meals, there is a sanity set against the surrounding madness. Another fine passage describes a journey along the Italian coast in a fishing boat. It has an authenticity and immediacy which could only have been achieved by a writer with a heightened sensitivity to the natural world' -- David Robson, Sunday Telegraph By far the most satisfying thing for any habitual reviewer is to spot a writer of promise, watch that promise develop, and then suddenly find it in full bloom. That has been my experience with William Riviere, now a marvellous writer. I was amazed that his last novel, ECHOES OF WAR, won no prizes...I shall not only be amazed, but shocked, disgusted, and dismayed if KATE CATERINA is no more successful...it is a wonderful story, the kind of book where you are eager to know what happens and to hurry to the end, but where you yet wish to delay, not only because the suspense is agreeable and you hope it will last, but also because there are felicities to linger over on every page..With rare skill Riviere combines an Arcadian evocation of the Italian countryside and the life they lead there with swift narrative, high drama and acute observation of the political and moral dilemma his characters are compelled to examine. It is a novel in which loyalties are complex and often divided; a novel which shows us people at their worst and their noblest; a novel in which the principal characters must choose how to act when any choice may lead to disaster, must assess what is real and what is a sham, must ultimately endure whatever the logic of the decisions they have made enforces on them. A novel of ideas - many ideas tumbling over themselves - it is nevertheless one in which the three characters - especially the three chief ones, Kate Caterina, her father-in-law, and the daughter who is a fascist wife - come through experience and self-examination to a true understanding of themselves and what they have made or are making of their lives. That may sound abstract. This novel is anything but abstract. It is painfully, exhilaratingly human. It is one of those novels where you hope, with increasing desperation that everything will turn out well - and fear it won't. It's a novel to lose yourself in; and when you have done so, you will find you have deepened your knowledge of other people, and perhaps of yourself. Read it and revel in it and be moved by it' Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'A heady and complex mix - but Riviere deals neatly with all the strands by concentrating on his heroine ... Although there are many dark passages in what is a captivating read there are also moments of sheer beauty ... Setting the novel in Italy during the second world war gives it a truly fresh perspective. There have been books about families torn apart in England and Germany but few, if any, about the Italian connection...this novel, coming on the back of the highly acclaimed ECHOES OF WAR, should help establish him as one of our most perceptive and engaging writers' -- Martin Barsby, Eastern Daily Press 'A vivid evocation of a Europe torn apart by war' -- Family Circle 'Caterina's chameleon personality is absorbing...The intense, closed world that the author has created holds wider truths. His writing is infused with a love of Italy and its people, but he unambiguously exposes the complicity of many ordinary people with Mussolini's regime' -- Ben Sheppard, Daily Express '[Riviere] writes novels of uncommon intelligence and narrative compulsion, the latest being KATE CATERINA, which confronts head on Italy's darkest hour' -- Alan Taylor, The Glasgow Herald 'William Riviere has taken some reliable ingredients - Italy, the Second World War, the family saga, the idea of a clash of loyalties and divided families - and with these tried and trusted materials produced an engrossing novel ... much of it carries powerful emotional force; the narrative has great pace and positively bounds along, carrying the reader in its wake; the plotting never seems artificial; and the climax .. is both surprising, shocking and affecting. There are many dangers in this sort of novel, but Riviere manages to steer clear of almost all of them. The research is immaculate ... My feeling is that a great many people will enjoy his novel hugely - and that it would make a superb film' -- David McLaurin, The Tablet 'Ambitious and absorbing.' -- Elizabeth Buchan, The Times 'A compelling psychological drama...deeply moving...a remarkable achievement' Frank Egerton, Spectator 'Riviere sensitively interleaves his themes of ideological conflict and family strife. He is particularly good at evoking Kate's traumatic existence as an enemy alien, and his familarity with Tuscany shines through with vivid descriptions of local landscape, architecture and, of course, food and drink.' -- Observer 'A compelling psychological drama...deeply moving...a remarkable achievement' -- Frank Egerton, Spectator I was amazed that his last novel, ECHOES OF WAR, won no prizes...I shall not only be amazed, but shocked, disgusted, and dismayed if KATE CATERINA is no more successful...It's a novel to lose yourself in; and when you have done so, you will find you have deepened your knowledge of other people, and perhaps of yourself. Read it and revel in it and be moved by it' -- Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'KATE CATERINA belongs in the great tradition of the European novel: it has breadth of outlook and bristles with political ideas. At its best, it reminded me of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's THE LEOPARD - and there can be no higher comparison' -- David Robson, Sunday Telegraph There have been books about families torn apart in England and Germany but few, if any, about the Italian connection...this novel, coming on the back of the highly acclaimed ECHOES OF WAR, should help establish him as one of our most perceptive and engaging writers' -- Martin Barsby, Eastern Daily Press 'Caterina's chameleon personality is absorbing...The intense, closed world that the author has created holds wider truths. His writing is infused with a love of Italy and its people, but he unambiguously exposes the complicity of many ordinary people with Mussolini's regime' -- Ben Sheppard, Daily Express 'an engrossing novel ... much of it carries powerful emotional force; the narrative has great pace and positively bounds along, carrying the reader in its wake; the plotting never seems artificial; and the climax .. is both surprising, shocking and affecting...My feeling is that a great many people will enjoy his novel hugely - and that it would make a superb film' -- David McLaurin, The Tablet 'an ambitious and absorbing project.' -- Elizabeth Buchan, The Times
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