**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** THE SWEEPING, SUN-DRENCHED STORY OF LOVE, FAMILY AND UNTOLD SECRETS SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF WWII, FROM THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER 'Adriana is a storyteller second to none' HEATHER MORRIS, bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz 'Trigiani never fails to sweep you away . . . an emotional and beautiful tale of family, love, and loss' TAYLOR JENKINS REID, bestselling author of Malibu Rising 'There is a reason Adriana Trigiani is so beloved by her millions of devoted readers . . . gorgeous' SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'A big, beautiful, wonderful book; romantic, moving, transporting, affecting I will do everything I can to encourage everyone to read it' LOUISE DOUGLAS, bestselling author of The House by the Sea _________ Domenica Cabrelli had two great loves of her life. The first, her childhood sweetheart: a boy from the same small, sun-drenched Italian town of Viareggio. A romance born out of yearning and shared history; over before it really had a chance to begin. Then, on an idyllic French coastline in the shadow of war, Domenica's second great love affair, which would go on to define her - a mysterious captain, with a future on the front line. Many decades later, only her daughter, Matelda, knows the true story of these two men's lives, and the secret that connects them. And, as the end of her life nears, Matelda realises that some truths are too great to be lost. But as she works against the clock with her own daughter to unpack their family's legacy, more questions arise than answers. What was the real story of her mother's wartime years? What kept her away from Italy for so long, after the fighting had ended? And what, ultimately, brought her home again? . . . _________ 'An unforgettable historical epic. This rich family story is magnificent in the telling' Lisa Jewell 'At once epic and intimate . . . A delightful novel' Jess Walter 'This beautiful, sweeping historical epic paints an exquisite portrait of love, loss, the ravages of time and the price a family pays for its secrets. Brava! Kristin Hannah 'Beautifully written, immersive . . . Sweeps you up and takes you on an epic journey. A must-read for 2022' Sarah Pearse 'An exquisite gem of a novel. No one does historical fiction better than Trigiani' David Baldacci 'This is a sweeping story of the complexities of love and family . . . A beautiful historical romance, this book manages to be epic and intimate at the same time' Sun

**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** THE SWEEPING, SUN-DRENCHED STORY OF LOVE, FAMILY AND UNTOLD SECRETS SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF WWII, FROM THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER 'Adriana is a storyteller second to none' HEATHER MORRIS, bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz'Trigiani never fails to sweep you away . . . an emotional and beautiful tale of family, love, and loss' TAYLOR JENKINS REID, bestselling author of Malibu Rising'There is a reason Adriana Trigiani is so beloved by her millions of devoted readers . . . gorgeous' SARAH JESSICA PARKER'A big, beautiful, wonderful book; romantic, moving, transporting, affecting I will do everything I can to encourage everyone to read it' LOUISE DOUGLAS, bestselling author of The House by the Sea_________ Domenica Cabrelli had two great loves of her life. The first, her childhood sweetheart: a boy from the same small, sun-drenched Italian town of Viareggio. A romance born out of yearning and shared history. Then, on an idyllic French coastline in the shadow of war, Domenica's second great love affair: a mysterious captain, with a future on the front line. Many decades later, as her daughter, Matelda, starts to unpack her mother's legacy, she realises there is much Domenica left untold. About what kept her away from Italy for so long. What ultimately brought her home again. And the secret that bound her two great loves together . . ._________ 'An unforgettable historical epic. This rich family story is magnificent in the telling' Lisa Jewell 'At once epic and intimate . . . A delightful novel' Jess Walter 'This beautiful, sweeping historical epic paints an exquisite portrait of love, loss, the ravages of time and the price a family pays for its secrets. Brava! Kristin Hannah 'Beautifully written, immersive . . . Sweeps you up and takes you on an epic journey. A must-read for 2022' Sarah Pearse 'An exquisite gem of a novel. No one does historical fiction better than Trigiani' David Baldacci 'This is a sweeping story of the complexities of love and family . . . A beautiful historical romance, this book manages to be epic and intimate at the same time' Sun

The basis for Joseph L. Mankiewicz's cinematic romance starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison.
Burdened by debt after her husband's death, Lucy Muir insists on moving into the very cheap Gull Cottage in the quaint seaside village of Whitecliff, despite multiple warnings that the house is haunted. Upon discovering the rumors to be true, the young widow ends up forming a special companionship with the ghost of handsome former sea captain Daniel Gregg. Through the struggles of supporting her children, seeking out romance from the wrong places, and working to publish the captain's story as a book, "Blood and Swash," Lucy finds in her secret relationship with Captain Gregg a comfort and blossoming love she never could have predicted.
Originally published in 1945, made into a movie in 1947, and later adapted into a television sitcom in 1968, this romantic tale explores how love can develop without boundaries, both in this life and beyond.
With a new foreword by Adriana Trigiani.
Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test of time, now rediscovered through the publication of the novels on which they were based.

Learn to cook traditional Italian food for every holiday of the year with Rossella Rago and her Italian nonna in Cooking with Nonna: A Year of Italian Holidays. They're back! Rossella Rago and her adorable Nonna Romana have returned with Cooking with Nonna: A Year of Italian Holidays, a traditional cookbook no Italian kitchen should be without. This Italian cookbook is a culinary treasury, jam-packed with over 125 classic holiday recipes for Italian-food lovers, including classic holiday recipes like Struffoli, Christmas Fish, Manicotti, Cannelloni, Cannoli Cheesecake, and more. With advice from nonnas all over the country, this unique book covers holiday classics from every region of Italy, from Milan to Sicily, and includes holiday memories from the nonnas themselves. The nonnas also give their personal tips on cooking for a crowd (and it's always a crowd). And, of course, no new Cooking with Nonna cookbook would be complete without Rossella's signature dishes and unique voice. Rosella and her nonnas will have you enjoying Italian culinary delights around the year. In addition to the major holidays of Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, you will find recipes for New Year's Eve and Day, the Epiphany, Little Easter, St. Joseph's Day, Carnevale, All Souls Day, Valentine's Day, Women's Day, Mother's Day, and Saint Rocco's Feast. To complete you year-round Italian tasting tour, recipes for weddings and other celebrations are included. Nothing brings family together like delicious food around the holidays, and Cooking with Nonna: A Year of Italian Holidays has everything you need to keep your family full and happy every holiday of the year. Bring the dishes and the memories you grew up with to a whole new generation of Italian Americans!

When Valentine's grandmother begins a new life in Italy, she places Valentine and her nemesis, her brother Alfred, "the Prince," as partners at the Angelini Shoe Company, makers of handcrafted wedding shoes since 1903. A once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity takes Valentine from the winding streets of Greenwich Village to the sun-kissed cobblestones of Buenos Aires, where she unearths a long-buried family secret and finds herself torn between a past love that nurtured her and a new one that promises to sustain her, in this "dazzling" (USA Today) follow-up to Very Valentine.

The Angelini Shoe Company, one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village, has been making exquisite wedding shoes since 1903 but now teeters on the brink of financial collapse. To save their business from ruin, thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli--apprentice to and granddaughter of master artisan Teodora Angelini--must bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century. Juggling her budding romance with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family, and a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store, Valentine returns to Italy with her grandmother in a quest to build a pair of glorious shoes to beat their rivals. And in the course of discovering her true artistic voice and so much more in la bella Italia, Valentine will be turning her life and the business upside down in ways she never expected.

'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR If home is where the heart is, what happens when yours is torn in two? Big Stone Gap is a sleepy village where people can go their whole lives without leaving. It's been the home of Ave Maria and her family for generations, but with her daughter now married and living in Italy, Ave realises it's time to go in search of a new dream. Yet before her journey can begin, her life is turned upside down. As a lifelong friendship falls apart and an unexpected health crisis threatens her family, Ave Maria's world is shaken. And when a mysterious stranger comes to town and reveals a long-buried secret, she realises that in order to move forward with her life, first she must face up to the past . . . The fourth in the bestselling and much-loved BIG STONE GAP series from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series: 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn't put it down' SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG 'If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this' COSMOPOLITAN 'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE 'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR 'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY 'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL 'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLE

'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG 'Funny, charming and original' FANNIE FLAGG, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe How do you face the future when the past won't let you go? Big Stone Gap is a sleepy village where kids get married and start families at eighteen, and stay for ever. So thirty-five-year old Ave Maria Mulligan is something of an oddity. A self-proclaimed spinster, as the local pharmacist she's been keeping the townsfolk's secrets for years. Now Ave Maria is about to discover a scandal in her own family's past that will blow the lid right off her quiet, uneventful life. Soon she's juggling two unexpected marriage proposals and conducting a no-holds-barred family feud. The thought of spending the rest of her life in Big Stone Gap is suddenly overwhelming . . . The ultimate Small Town American novel from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series: 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn't put it down' SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG 'If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this' COSMOPOLITAN 'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE 'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR 'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY 'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL 'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLE

I'm marooned.
Abandoned.
Left to rot in boarding school . . .

There are four reasons why Viola Chesterton knows she'll never survive her first year at Prefect Academy: Her parents have heartlessly dropped her there against her will She has to leave behind her Best Friend Forever And Always, Andrew . . . and replace him with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to like it there "There" is South Bend, Indiana--Sherbet-Colored Sweater Capital of the World and about as far away from her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, as you can get

At least she has her video camera and her dreams of being a filmmaker to keep her busy. But boarding school, and her roommates, and even the Midwest are nothing like she thought they would be, and soon Viola realizes she may be in for the most incredible year of her life. But first she has to put the camera down and let the world in.

'Trigiani is a wonderful storyteller... Readers will enjoy Big Cherry Holler immensely' USA TODAY How do you move forward if you’ve already lost your way?   It's been eight years since town pharmacist and self-proclaimed spinster Ave Maria Mulligan married Jack McChesney. Now they have a beautiful daughter, but for some reason Jack has never seemed so distant. In the old stone house nestled in the mountains, there’s an empty room where their son once slept, and a sadness that neither Ave nor Jack can discuss. But in Big Stone Gap itself, change is in the air, and not everyone feels it’s for the good. As Ave makes big decisions about the future of her family, will she and her husband be able to find their way back to each other before it’s too late? The extraordinary sequel to Big Stone Gap from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series: 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn’t put it down’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG ‘If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this’ COSMOPOLITAN 'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE 'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR 'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY 'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL 'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLE

It is 1950 in glittering, vibrant New York City. Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman's department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams, Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the Sartoris' honor is tested.

'Delightful' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY   Can she find it in her heart to let go before it’s too late? As her daughter grows up, Ave Maria can’t help but feel time is slipping through her fingers. Her friends in Big Stone Gap are going through major life changes, too, and her husband seems desperate to reinvent himself in ways nobody could have predicted. Reaching into the past to find answers to the present, Ave Maria is led to places she never dreamed she would go, and as people enter her life and rock the foundation, Ave Maria faces the true test of love: letting go. The third in the bestselling and much-loved BIG STONE GAP series from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick   Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series: 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn’t put it down’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG ‘If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this’ COSMOPOLITAN 'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE 'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR 'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY 'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL 'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLE

I am in the midst of a conundrum.

Viola is finally where she belongs--back home in Brooklyn, where there are no khakis or sherbet-colored sweaters and people actually think her yellow flats are cool. But her best friend, Andrew, has started acting weird around her, and a new boyfriend has her friend Caitlin ditching her every chance she gets. Although Viola gets an internship on a Broadway show, nothing else is going as planned. When her roommates from Prefect Academy show up for a visit, Viola starts to wonder--is Brooklyn where she wants to stay? And when a tragic event shakes everyone's world, Viola realizes it's not where she belongs that matters--it's who she's with that really counts.

In this heartwarming follow-up to bestselling author Adriana Trigiani's teen debut, Viola in Reel Life, Viola just may be ready to get out from behind her trusty video camera and take the starring role in her own life.

As devoted readers of Adriana Trigiani's New York Times bestselling novels know, this "seemingly effortless storyteller" (Boston Globe) frequently draws inspiration from her own family history, in particular from the lives of her two remarkable grandmothers, Lucia Spada Bonicelli (Lucy) and Yolanda Perin Trigiani (Viola). In Don't Sing at the Table, she reveals how her grandmothers' simple values have shaped her own life, sharing the experiences, humor, and wisdom of her beloved mentors to delight readers of all ages.

Trigiani visits the past to seek answers to the essential questions that define the challenges women face today at work and at home. Don't Sing at the Table is a primer, grandmother to granddaughter, filled with everyday wisdom and life lessons handed down with care and built to last.

BIG CHERRY HOLLER, the extraordinary sequel to BIG STONE GAP, takes us back to the mountain life that enchanted us in Adriana Trigiani’s best selling debut novel. It’s been eight years since the town pharmacist and long time spinster Ave Maria Mulligan married coal miner Jack MacChesney. With her new found belief in love and its possibilities, Ave Maria makes a life for herself and her growing family, hoping that her fearless leap into commitment will make happiness stay. What she didn’t count on was that fate, life, and the ghosts of the past would come to haunt her and, eventually, test the love she has for her husband. The mountain walls that have protected her all of her life can not spare Ave Maria the life lessons she must learn.

BIG CHERRY HOLLER is the story of a marriage, revealing the deep secrets, the power struggle, the betrayal and the unmet expectations that exist between husband and wife. It is the story of a community that must reinvent itself as it comes to grips with the decline of the coal mining industry. It is the story of an extended family, the people of Big Stone Gap, who are there for one another especially when times are tough—including bookmobile librarian and sexpert Iva Lou Wade Makin, savvy businesswoman Pearl Grimes, crusty cashier Fleeta Mullins, and Rescue Squad captain Spec Broadwater, who faces the complications of his double life. Ave Maria’s best friend Theodore Tipton, now band director at the University of Tennessee, continues to be her chief counselor and conscience as he reaches the pinnacle of marching band success.

When Ave Maria takes her daughter to Italy for the summer, she meets a handsome stranger who offers her a life beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ave Maria is forced to confront what is truly important: to her, to her marriage, and to her family. Brimming with humor, wisdom, honesty, and the drama and local color of mountain life from Virginia to Italy, BIG CHERRY HOLLER is a deeply felt, brilliantly evoked story of two lovers who have lost their way and their struggle to find one another again.


From the Hardcover edition.

New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, beloved by millions of readers around the world for her humor, warmth, and captivating storytelling in the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia, takes on love, lust, tricky family dynamics, and home decorating in Rococo, the uproarious tale of a small Italian American town poised for a makeover it never expected.
Bartolomeo di Crespi is the acclaimed interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey. To date, Bartolomeo has hand-selected every chandelier, sconce, and ottoman in OLOF, so when the renovation of the local church is scheduled, he assumes there is only one man for the job.
From the dazzling shores of New Jersey to the legendary fabric houses of New York City, from the prickly purveyors of fine art in London to luscious Santa Margherita on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, Bartolomeo is on a mission to bring talent, sophistication, and his aesthetic vision to his hometown.
Trigiani's glittering mosaic of small-town characters sparkles: Bartolomeo's hilarious sister, Toot, is in desperate need of a postdivorce transformation-thirteen years after the fact; "The Benefactor," Aurelia Mandelbaum, the richest woman in New Jersey, has a lust for French interiors and a long-held hope that Bartolomeo will marry her myopic daughter, Capri; Father Porporino, the pastor with a secret, does his best to keep a lid on a simmering scandal; and Eydie Von Gunne, the chic international designer, steps in and changes the course of Bartolomeo's creative life, while his confidante, cousin Christina Menecola, awaits rescue from an inconsolable grief.
Plaster of Paris, polished marble, and unbridled testosterone arrive in buckets when Bartolomeo recruits Rufus McSherry, a strapping, handsome artist, and Pedro Allercon, a stained-glass artisan, to work with him on the church's interior. Together, the three of them will do more than blow the dust off the old Fatima frescoes-they will turn the town upside down, challenge the faithful, and restore hope where there once was none.
Brilliantly funny and as fanciful as flocked wallpaper, filled with glamorous locales from New Jersey to Europe, from Sunday Mass to the American Society of Interior Designers soiree at the Plaza Hotel, Rococo is Trigiani's masterpiece, a classic comedy with a heart of gold leaf.

"A veritable crazy quilt of quirky Italian Americans ... Trigiani weaves all these subplots together with wonderful ease; every seam is perfectly straight, every pleat in place. Bartolomeo would expect no less. A-." -- Entertainment Weekly
"Clever ... Creating characters so lively they bounce off the page and possessing a wit so subtle that even the best jokes seem effortless, Trigiani is a master storyteller. Equal parts sass and silliness, Rococo is an artfully designed tale with enough brio to make Frank Gehry proud."-- People

"From the Hardcover edition."

From the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, comes an exhilarating story of friendship, family, love and loyalty, told against a backdrop of Shakespeare's greatest comedies. 'Stylishly written, this is a wide-ranging romp of a read about friendship, family, love and loyalty'DAILY MAIL In 1949, South Philadelphia is bursting with possibility. When an urgent telegram from Italy upends the ordinary life of Nicky Castone, he begins to wonder whether there's more to life than a steady job in the family business and a sweet-natured fiancee. Discovering in secret the draw of the local Shakespeare theatre company, Nicky quickly becomes enchanted by the stage, its colourful players and the feisty Calla Borelli, who runs the show. But before long, Nicky finds himself on the horns of a dilemma. Will he return to his conventional life and family, or does he have what it takes to risk everything and chart a new course? *~*~*Readers love Adriana Trigiani!*~*~* 'A gorgeous piece of escapism . . . Plenty of the warm, earthy humour that is this author's calling card' The Times 'A rich, sweeping epic... If you're meeting her work for the first time, get ready for a lifelong love affair. Splendid' Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help on The Shoemaker's Wife 'A tender tale of being torn between family, career and love' -- Company on Lucia, Lucia '[Adriana Trigiani] has crafted a world of warm, lively characters whose charming idiosyncrasies lead them to collide and ricochet along the way to love. A delightfully sprawling comedy' Kirkus Reviews on Kiss Carlo 'The breathtaking historical novel sparkles in exquisite details and vivid descriptions' Huffington Post on The Shoemaker's Wife 'The author of BIG STONE GAP triumphs again' -- Heat on Lucia, Lucia

The fateful first meeting of Enza and Ciro takes place amid the haunting majesty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the last century. Still teenagers, they are separated when Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York's Little Italy, apprenticed to a shoemaker, leaving a bereft Enza behind. But when her own family faces disaster, she, too, is forced to emigrate to America. Though destiny will reunite the star-crossed lovers, it will, just as abruptly, separate them once again--sending Ciro off to serve in World War I, while Enza is drawn into the glamorous world of the opera . . . and into the life of the international singing sensation Enrico Caruso. Still, Enza and Ciro have been touched by fate--and, ultimately, the power of their love will change their lives forever.

A riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny, inspired by the author's own family history, The Shoemaker's Wife is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write.

For over a hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This historic business partnership provides the twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the school-teacher turned shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret.

A piece of surprising news is revealed on a fateful Christmas Eve when Valentine and Gianluca join her extended family. Now faced with life altering choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: "A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything." The proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves--the bitter and the sweetness of life itself.

A treasure trove of common sense from two very uncommon women

As devoted readers of Adriana Trigiani's "New York Times" bestselling novels know, this "seemingly effortless storyteller" ("Boston Globe") frequently draws inspiration from her own family history, in particular, the lives of her two remarkable grandmothers, who have found their way into all of Trigiani's treasured novels. In "Don't Sing at the Table," this much-beloved writer has gathered their estimable life lessons, revealing how her grandmothers' simple values have shaped her own life, sharing the experiences, humor, and wisdom of her beloved mentors that will delight readers of all ages.

Meet the Roncalli and Angelini families, a vibrant cast of colorful characters who navigate tricky family dynamics with hilarity and brio, from magical Manhattan to the picturesque hills of bella Italia. "Very Valentine" is the first novel in a trilogy and is sure to be the new favorite of Trigiani's millions of fans around the world.

In this luscious, contemporary family saga, the Angelini Shoe Company, makers of exquisite wedding shoes since 1903, is one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village. The company is on the verge of financial collapse. It falls to thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli, the talented and determined apprentice to her grandmother, the master artisan Teodora Angelini, to bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century and save the company from ruin.

While juggling a budding romance with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family, and a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store, Valentine returns to Italy with her grandmother to learn new techniques and seek one-of-a-kind materials for building a pair of glorious shoes to beat their rivals. There, in Tuscany, Naples, and on the Isle of Capri, a family secret is revealed as Valentine discovers her artistic voice and much more, turning her life and the family business upside down in ways she never expected. "Very Valentine" is a sumptuous treat, a journey of dreams fulfilled, a celebration of love and loss filled with Trigiani's trademark heart and humor.

Born in the U.S.A.... American gals are taking liberties -- and pursuing happiness on their own terms -- in this star-studded story collection featuring the nation's red-hot women writers. They've declared their independence! Jennifer Weiner (In Her Shoes) learns The Truth About Nigel -- and the trouble with falling for an incognito Hollywood actor. Lauren Weisberger (The Devil Wears Prada) sends a single New Yorker on a backpacking trip halfway around the world -- where she sees her love life back home with new eyes -- in The Bamboo Confessions. A harried mom with a hit novel crosses the pond in My Great Brit Book Tour by Adriana Trigiani (Lucia, Lucia), and turns a crumbling talk show appearance into a sweet success. Also uniting their talents in this free-spirited anthology are JULIANNA BAGGOTT - CINDY CHUPACK - LYNDA CURNYN - QUINN DALTON - LAUREN HENDERSON - JUDI HENDRICKS - GRETCHEN LASKAS - CLAIRE LaZEBNIK - CHRIS MANBY - SARAH MLYNOWSKI - MELISSA SENATE - JILL SMOLINSKI - NANCY SPARLING - LAURA WOLF