This is the title of the last chapter of Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees. In it, Silvia is so overjoyed by her family gathering that she feels covetous of the time and knows that, like all really good times, it will come to an end too
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Fiction Books about Happiness: The Gift of Each Day
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsIn Discovery of an Eagle, a near fatal accident wakes Cosmo up to the fragility of life. He realizes that each day is a gift, not a guarantee, and this realization is the impetus for his awakening. He decides to stop sleepwalking through his
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Fiction Books about Happiness: Give Peace a Chance
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 1 commentI wrote Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees after a failed attempt at making peace in my own family. Writing this book wasn’t only cathartic and therapeutic, but it gave me an opportunity to vicariously experience Silvia’s
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Fiction Books about Happiness: In This World of Sameness
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsThis is a line from my forthcoming novel and the third novel featuring the Greco family–“The Bird that Sang in Color.” It’s told from the point of view of the family matriarch, Donna and is the story of her transformation
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Fiction Books about Happiness: A New Way To Live
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsIt was difficult to come up with a blog post about finding happiness in such difficult times. My husband and I both lost our jobs this week but I consider us fortunate to have our health. In Italy, people grieve in isolation; our most vulnerable
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My mom died when I was fifteen. It was sudden and tragic. No time for goodbyes or any of that last-minute stuff. We were bonded together like shoe strings tied or fingers crossed so the thought of going on without her was really tough. The
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Fiction Books about Happiness: A Lifetime of Pictures
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsWhat pictures will you have of yourself by the end of your life? This is the question posed to readers in my forthcoming novel. This story begins in 1970 with thirteen-year-old Donna narrating the story of her and her older brother, Vincent. As
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Fiction Books about Happiness: The Necessity of Peace
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsHappiness isn’t possible without peace and peace isn’t possible without practicing forgiveness. In Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees, Silvia, in an attempt to help her brother Vince come to peace with their father, tells him
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Fiction Books about Happiness: How Misery Destroys Humanity
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsThe theme of happiness is central to all of my novels and stories. Everyone is well-aware of the necessity of happiness on an individual level and everyone wants to be happy in some way or another. At the very least, they want relief from the
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Fiction Books about Happiness: Looking Out, Looking In
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsTrue happiness can only be found within. This simple lesson can be challenging as it is human tendency to think that a better job, or a bigger house, a new place to live, or a romance could bring happiness, and these things do indeed bring
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