In this heartfelt episode of The Good Italian Girl and Friends Podcast, Claudia Callisto shares an intimate reading from her published chapter in Anthologia II: A Collection of Stories by Women. Anthologia II brings together the voices of twenty-two women and celebrates truth, courage, connection and the complexity of womanhood.Claudia’s chapter, Between Two Worlds, is a deeply personal reflection on growing up as the Australian-born daughter of Italian immigrant parents. She explores what it felt like to live between two cultures: the traditional Italian world of family, duty, respect and cultural expectations, and the Australian world of independence, self-expression and personal choice.Through her reading, Claudia reflects on the pressure many Italian and ethnic women feel to be the “good daughter”, the caretaker, the one who holds everyone together. She speaks honestly about the invisible cultural rules that shaped her life, while also acknowledging the strength, resilience, family connection and cultural pride that came from her upbringing.The chapter also moves into one of the most personal chapters of Claudia’s life: the sudden passing of her husband, John. With honesty and courage, Claudia shares her experience of grief, widowhood, solo parenting and learning to live between the world she had with John and the world she now has without him beside her.At its heart, this episode is about culture, grief, love, legacy and becoming. It is for Italian women, ethnic women, migrant daughters and anyone who has ever felt caught between who they were expected to be and who they are still becoming.Brought to you by Shining Light

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