From the Publisher
Best-selling author Trigiani (Very Valentine) presents a loving paean to her Italian grandmothers... there is much warmth in these remembrances that will resonate with readers who enjoyed strong relationships with their own grandparents and know the value they can bring to our lives.” — Library Journal
“[C]harming… comforting lessons for readers seeking a simpler way of life.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Soothingly and with clarity…. Readers will find her strength and optimism helpful, and her legions of loyal fans will enjoy learning more about the women who influenced, inspired, and, according to Trigiani, made possible some of her best-selling fiction.” — Booklist
“Trigiani combines family and American history, reflections on lives well-lived, and sound advice to excellent effect, as a legacy to her daughter and a remembrance of two inimitable women.” — Publishers Weekly
“One of the reigning queens of women’s fiction.” — USA Today
“Delightful, energetic. . . . Trigiani is a seemingly effortless storyteller.” — Boston Globe
“Trigiani has certainly not lost her ability to breathe life into everything she writes.” — Roanoke Times
“Well crafted work with sometime lyrical, sometimes flat-out-funny writing.” — Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“Adriana Trigiani listens to her readers, then gives them what they want. ” — Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Dazzling.” — USA Today
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Adriana Trigiani listens to her readers, then gives them what they want.
Roanoke Times
Trigiani has certainly not lost her ability to breathe life into everything she writes.
Booklist
Soothingly and with clarity…. Readers will find her strength and optimism helpful, and her legions of loyal fans will enjoy learning more about the women who influenced, inspired, and, according to Trigiani, made possible some of her best-selling fiction.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Well crafted work with sometime lyrical, sometimes flat-out-funny writing.
USA Today
One of the reigning queens of women’s fiction.
Boston Globe
Delightful, energetic. . . . Trigiani is a seemingly effortless storyteller.
USA Today
One of the reigning queens of women’s fiction.
Booklist
Soothingly and with clarity…. Readers will find her strength and optimism helpful, and her legions of loyal fans will enjoy learning more about the women who influenced, inspired, and, according to Trigiani, made possible some of her best-selling fiction.
Stephanie Garber
[C]harming… comforting lessons for readers seeking a simpler way of life.
Kirkus Reviews
Nostalgic collection by the bestselling author of the Valentine series and Big Stone Gap series.
The author's grandmothers, Lucia Spada and Yolanda "Viola" Perin, both from working-class Italian immigrant backgrounds, knew the score in home economics, maintaining a nice figure, sex and marriage. Trigiani (Brava, Valentine, 2010, etc.) draws on their forthright skills in fashioning a comfortable home for their families in this righteous primer for the virtuous life. Viola grew up on a farm in Delabole, Pa., where her parents began work in the Slate Quarry upon their immigration from Veneto in 1906. Viola met her husband while working at a pants factory in Bangor, Pa., and eventually they started their own mill in Martins Creek, the Yolanda Manufacturing Company, which operated successfully until the late '60s. Viola lived most of her life in an opulent Tudor home in Flicksville, not far from the mill, where she entertained friends, maintained cars "of the moment" and generally lived the good life. Similarly, Lucia, born in Italy, immigrated to New York City with her father in 1917, and found work as a seamstress in a Hoboken, N.J., factory. Relocated with her new Italian husband to Chisholm, Minn., she made a success as a couturiere as well asrunning a shoe shop, which sustained her and her three children after her husband's died when she was 35. What did these hardworking ladies impart to the author, who visited their homes as a child and closely observed them? They both pursued careers while raising their children; they never threw anything away, having both known poverty (when asked why she only owned three dresses, Lucia replied: "How many can I wear at one time?"); they both hadsprezzatura ("effortless style"); they never retired, never remarried and kept up impeccable reputations; and they bought their own homes. Their child-raising skills, moreover, come across as charming if apocryphally rose-colored.
Corny but comforting lessons for readers seeking a simpler way of life.
