Set in 1903 Barre, Vermont, How Long a Shadow is a richly researched historical novel rooted in the immigrant labor movement of the American granite industry. As mal d' america devastates stonecutters and union strikes divide the town, twenty-year-old Rosina Bottinelli seeks a life beyond the narrow expectations of marriage. Apprenticing as a midwife, she confronts the physical and moral stakes of women' s work while a growing political rift between her unionist father and his capitalist brother threatens to fracture her family.Against a backdrop of labor unrest, public health crisis, and early suffrage activism, Rosina must decide where she stands- and what it will cost her to step out of the shadows and shape her own future.
"You can smell the stone dust in this richly imagined and deeply researched book. How Long a Shadow evokes a long-ago but still deeply resonant world rife with discrimination, bitter labor disputes, and hotly contested questions about a woman's place in society. Brava!"
Michael David Lukas, author of The Oracle of Stamboul and The Last Watchman of Old Cairo
"Intimate and sweeping, How Long a Shadow is a powerful historical novel of immigrant life, family loyalty, and hard-won female awakening."
Judith Turner-Yamamoto, author of Loving the Dead and Gone
"Ossola is a writer of extraordinary empathy and precision. . . . How Long a Shadow swept me into a world I didn't want to leave."
