Too Good To Be Real
by Anna Donatella Ferrara

GROWING up in an Anglo-Italian family in Bradford, Anna Donatella Ferrara felt torn between two cultures.

Now she lives and works in Sicily, and writes a blog about the best of both her worlds.

"You want to know where my heart belongs? To both countries," she says. "I have both nations to thank for so much. My biggest dilemma is England vs Italy football matches. The ten million dollar question is always the same: 'Who do you support?’ My answer is always the same: 'I don’t like football'."

Anna was born in Bradford to Italian parents who came here in the 1950s in search of work. As an adult she emigrated to Italy and for the past 25 years has lived and worked in Palagonia, Sicily.

Living with the "daily dilemma of being trapped between two cultures" inspired Anna to write a book about a young woman growing up in an Anglo-Italian family. Called Too Good to be Real, it's a love story that Anna says will "resonate with people who were born and grew up in a country different to their parents' homeland".

Isabella Ferli, whose father has been forced to flee Italy under strange circumstances, believes love is the answer to everything. But is she free to dream or is her future already mapped out?

"It explains how emigrant parents want to bring up their children following traditions that sometimes don’t fit or correspond with their new lifestyle," says Anna. "Too Good to be Real is what I call a 'culture cocktail' - you must learn to take advantage of the culture trap, bringing out only the best of both cultures. A country grows on you; when I arrived in Sicily I thought it was odd to eat granita and sweet bread for breakfast, but now I love it. The summers were unbearably hot, but now they're fantastic."

Anna grew up in Girlington, in a bilingual household. Her father, Gaetano Ferrera, known as Tony, owned a transport cafè off Leeds Road and was treasurer of the local Italian community in the 1970s.

"I was forced to attend Italian classes which I hated. I wanted to be like English kids so I refused to speak Italian at home. I think at some point my parents just gave up," says Anna.

She married a Sicilian, Salvino Campo, and the couple have two grown-up sons, Fabio and Giorgio. The family moved from Wilsden to Sicily in 1990.

"We were young and not afraid of new challenges. We were looking for a better life. Did I find it? Yes, in a way!"

Anna runs an English school and is keen to teach about culture as well as language. She draws on her experiences of dual cultures as a blogger, "writing about what I know best England and Italy introducing people to different traditions and cultures".

"Even though I love Italy - its elegance, food, fashion and the weather, my heart belongs to Yorkshire," says Anna.

Being a keen reader has inspired Anna to write her first novel, and she is seeking a publisher. "My husband says I'm the worst travel companion; any free time and I’ll have my nose in a book. My dream has always been to write a book but I just thought I didn’t have it in me to write," says Anna. "Thanks to my job as a teacher, I’ve learned to understand the importance of being able to communicate.

"A few years ago I read a book, a rather strange, sad story, and what struck me was it was written in very straightforward language, nothing too elaborate. This is how most of us know how to speak, so I thought why not give it a go? I wanted to prove something to myself."

Too Good To Be Real is available on Amazon.