Lisa Clifford

Australian author Lisa Clifford moved to Italy with her Italian husband. She met some of his family members and noted the silence surrounding the death of her husband's great-grandfather, murdered in 1907. Just in time, while there were still some who knew the story, she began to investigate this death and the Tuscan share-cropper way of life that her husband's ancestors had led for generations. The result is a beautifull written true story that her family will treasure forever and people like myself are grateful to have available to us.… (más)

Absolutely incredible book. The integration of the Italian words and phrases with the story makes you feel like you're learning not only about the Bruni's story, but also a language and a culture. The way this book is written really submerged me into the story and made me feel like I was there with the family, living it with them, and I was severely disappointed when it ended, with me bawling my eyes out in a local cafe. Can you figure out who murdered Artemio Bruni before the end? It was a big surprise to me!… (más)

3.5 - 4 stars

16 year old Sydney-sider Lisa travels to Florence to spend time with her sister, meets the love of her life and then spends the next two decades moving back and forth between Australia and Italy, trying to work out where she wants to live her life. Being an expat myself, many of her dilemmas sound familiar to me. Her memories of Australia are definitey rather rose-coloured (when she states in all seriousness that Australian men don't mind doing their share of the housework I didn't know whether to laugh or cry), but I can understand that sort of nostalgia. The descriptions of life in Florence are honest and not romantizised and I'm glad she came to the conclusion that she did in the end. I wish her every happiness in the life she has chosen.… (más)

This is the true story of the murder of Artemio Bruni, a peasant farmer in the mountains of Casentino, north-eastern Tuscany, in the winter of 1907. When Australian author and journalist Lisa Clifford moved to Florence to be with her Italian husband, an unsolved murder in his family became part of her life. The more Lisa found out about it, the more intrigued she became so much so that she was driven to investigate the tragic events of a century ago. Soon it was not just the murder that obsessed her but also the harsh existence of Artemio and his family, one that had continued unchanged since the middle ages and had none of the warmth and sophistication of the Florentine life she knew. Death in the Mountains is Lisa's brilliant recreation of the life and death of Artemio Bruni, and an evocation of the world of the Tuscan mountains in the early 20th century. It is both a murder mystery and a beautifully observed picture of a lost Italy.… (más)