From Publishers Weekly
Greenwich Village is a far cry from the rural Virginia of Trigiani's best-selling trilogy (Big Stone Gap; Big Cherry Holler; Milk Glass Moon), but the emotional terrain covered in the author's first novel is warmly familiar. Poignant and feeling, it looks back on the experiences of the beautiful daughter of an Italian-American family in Greenwich Village in the early '50s. Kit Zanetti, a young playwright in present-day New York, accepts an invitation to the apartment of "Aunt Lu," as she is known in their building. Aunt Lu on first glance is an eccentric lady in her 70s who trails around in a fur. Once Kit can be bothered to listen, however, she finds out that Aunt Lu was once the most beautiful girl in Greenwich Village, Lucia Sartori, an intelligent and ambitious seamstress in the custom department at B. Altman's, who's determined not to let the traditions of her loving family lock her into the patterns of the past. When her impending marriage to childhood sweetheart Dante threatens just that, she refuses him, startling her beloved family. Then, fatefully, she meets the dapper John Talbot, who seems the man of her dreams, even draping her in full-length mink, and she ignores the signs that he is trouble and plans marriage. Jilted on her wedding day, Lucia finds out that he is a con man. Despite her pain, she decides to go to California to follow her dream, but when her mother falls ill she does exactly what she was trying to avoid: she becomes the maiden aunt and caretaker of the Sartori clan. Will some well-meant meddling by Kit disarray Lucia's carefully controlled life? This old-fashioned drama wears its heart on its sleeve-subtlety is not its strong suit-but readers will laugh with and weep for Lucia and her lost dreams.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Budding playwright Kit Zanetti is invited to tea by her elderly neighbor, and she is amazed at the apartment full of memorabilia. Her question about a beautiful full-length mink coat begins the story of "Aunt Lu's" long and interesting life. Lucia Sartori, the youngest child and only daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village in the early '50s, is engaged to marry her childhood sweetheart, Dante DiMartino. Almost on the eve of the wedding, Lucia is shocked to learn that his mother expects her to quit her job as a seamstress at B. Altman's department store to stay at home and help her future mother-in-law and to prepare for the children she is expected to have. Lucia resents having to choose between career and marriage, so she breaks the engagement. Later, she meets suave and debonair John Talbot, who sweeps her off her feet. He gives her a beautiful, full-length mink coat. Only after being jilted at the altar does Lucia learn that he is a con man. After this unfortunate event, Lucia's plans to go to California to pursue her career are thwarted when her mother becomes ill. Now she must decide between love and duty or her own happiness. Finely drawn characters move the story along with warmth and humor, relationships in Lucia's big Italian family are lovingly detailed, and there is a strong sense of place. Readers who enjoyed Trigiani's "Big Stone Gap" trilogy (Random) will find that she again tells an engaging story.Carol Clark, Fairfax County Public Schools, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
Lucia Sartori is the only daughter in an Italian family living in New York City during the postwar boom of the 1950s. When her ambitions turn to fashion design, her life becomes both glamorous and complicated. Mira Sorvino escorts the listener through Lucia's exciting and tumultuous career with insightful precision, carefully representing Italian dialects, phrases, and emotion. When Lucia finds herself in the midst of a scandal, Sorvino provides the bravado and pacing to keep the story on track, carefully providing equal commitment to all the characters. Although differentiation between male and female characters could have been more prominent, Sorvino's performance as Lucia is excellent. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
The author of the Big Stone Gap trilogy (Big Stone Gap, 2000; Big Cherry Holler, 2001; Milk Glass Moon, 2002) changes venues from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to New York City's Greenwich Village. What has not changed is Trigiani's heartfelt depiction of homespun characters whose emotions are always very close to the surface. When aspiring playwright Kit Zanetti agrees to have tea with her dignified 70-year-old neighbor, Lucia Sartori, she does so out of politeness; hours later, however, she has been treated to a vivid depiction of life on Commerce Street during the 1950s. The daughter of an Italian grocer, Lucia worked for high-end department store B. Altman's as a custom seamstress. Her love for beautiful things draws her away from her childhood sweetheart and into the arms of a suave bon vivant, who takes her to posh nightclubs and fine restaurants but eventually breaks her heart. Trigiani offers an inviting picture of Italian family life as well as a finely detailed appreciation of Old World craftsmanship, whether it be clothing or cooking. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
“This heartwarming tale is full of lessons about taking risks in life and love.”
—Cosmopolitan

“FAST-MOVING, FUNNY, VISUAL, AND MOVING . . . A vibrant, loving, wistful portrait of a lost time and place. Every page is engrossing and begs us to read the next.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“TRIGIANI’S WRITING IS AS DAZZLING AS LUCIA’S DRESSES.”
—USA Today

“COMPELLING . . . A BREEZY READ.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“[Trigiani] writes with commanding authenticity about Italian-American life, the landscape of Italy, and New York City. . . . Lucia, her Italian family, her ambitious girlfriends, her colorful boss, and her mysterious lover are colorful, poignant characters, representative of another time, yet as real as today. . . . Trigiani has proved she is a multi-faceted writer whose name and stories will be celebrated for years to come.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Adriana Trigiani’s enchanting new novel will find a warm welcome from every reader who has encountered a fork in the road to love and taken the more perilous path. . . . A testament to the power of familial love and friendship . . . Perhaps [this] is Trigiani’s greatest gift to her reader: the recognition that devotion, loyalty, and forgiveness will ultimately win the day.”
—BookPage

“Trigiani creates a compelling story, artfully uniting a snapshot of the past with the present. This bittersweet novel should have broad appeal.”
—Library Journal

“Filled to bursting with gorgeous clothes, sumptuous meals, beautiful weather, and the rhapsody of New York City.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“You’ll find yourself lost in an Audrey Hepburn movie that was never made.”
—CNNMoney.com

“Delightful . . . Trigiani has artfully woven a wonderful, engaging story that blends the past with the present. Her characters are richly appealing, from her four overprotective brothers to her quick-witted best friend.”
—Review Appeal (Franklin, TN)

“[A] heartfelt depiction of homespun characters whose emotions are always very close to the surface . . . Trigiani offers an inviting picture of Italian life as well as a finely detailed appreciation of Old World craftsmanship.”
—Booklist

“[A] bustling, sparkling 1950s New York City . . . Trigiani does a wonderful job evoking Lucia’s beloved, homey Greenwich Village and the couture-clad Upper East Side. Vivid, too, are the descriptions of Italian cooking and feasting, and the Sartoris’ storybook hometown in the old country.”
—Boston Herald

“This is your perfect summer read. Trust us. Put a good reading light on in your backyard . . . and read your little heart out, deep into the night.”
—Millbrook Voice Ledger (NY)

“Poignant and feeling . . . Readers will laugh with and weep for Lucia and her lost dreams.”
—Publishers Weekly





Review
?Trigiani is a wonderful storyteller.?
?USA Today

?[Trigiani?s] characters [are] the perfect antidote to an angst-filled world.?
?The Denver Post

?As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday.?
?The New York Times Book Review

?Trigiani has created a world well worth visiting and revisiting in her Big Stone Gap series.?
?Bookpage

?Everything that really matters is here: humor, romance, wisdom, and drama.?
?The Dallas Morning News

?Delightfully quirky...chock-full of engaging, oddball characters and unexpected plot twists.?
?People


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Set in the glittering, vibrant New York City of 1950, Lucia, Lucia is the enthralling story of a passionate, determined young woman whose decision to follow her heart changes her life forever.
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.
Lucia is surrounded by richly drawn New York characters, including her best friend, the quick-witted fashion protégé Ruth Kaspian; their boss, Delmarr, B. Altman’s head designer and glamorous man-about-town; her devoted brothers, Roberto, Orlando, Angelo, and Exodus, self-appointed protectors of the jewel of the family; and her doting father, Antonio. Filled with the warmth and humor that have earned Adriana Trigiani hundreds of thousands of devoted readers with her Big Stone Gap trilogy, Lucia, Lucia also bursts with a New York sensibility that shows the depth and range of this beloved author. As richly detailed as the couture garments Lucia sews, as emotional as the bonds in her big Italian family, it is the story of one womanwho believes that in a world brimming with so much promise, she can—and should be able to—have it all.
From the Hardcover edition.

SYNOPSIS

Set in the glittering, vibrant New York City of 1950, Lucia, Lucia is the enthralling story of a passionate, determined young woman whose decision to follow her heart changes her life forever.

Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In 1950 Greenwich Village, 25-year-old Lucia has it all: a warm and loving Italian family, a papa with a successful grocery business, an engagement ring from her childhood sweetheart, and best of all, a career she loves as a seamstress and apprentice to a talented dress designer at B. Altman's department store. When Lucia meets a rich, handsome businessman whose ambitions for a luxurious uptown lifestyle match her own, her goals for her future soar even higher. Over the next two years, however, her dreams gradually unravel. Sorvino is well-cast as the narrator of Trigiani's (Milk Glass Moon) first-person tale. She ably conveys the confidence, eagerness, and romantic yearnings of youth, as well as the guilt Lucia suffers when she disappoints her loved ones. Sorvino is also adept at providing voices for a large cast of characters: the rich Italian accent of Lucia's father, the scolding tone of her mother, the shy voice of her sister-in-law and the smooth, movie-star tones of the rich stranger Lucia pins her hopes on. This is an engaging, well-told tale about life's unexpected twists and turns, the ways that even small choices have large repercussions and the hopeful notion that sometimes, when you least expect it, you can find happiness. Simultaneous release with the Random hardcover (Forecasts, July 7). (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Trigiani here leaves the rural Virginia setting of her "Big Stone Gap" trilogy for New York City. Kit, an aspiring playwright, agrees to afternoon tea with "Aunt" Lu, an old, but still elegant, fellow tenant. Kit's casual question about Lu's frequently worn mink coat is rewarded by the story of two pivotal years in Lucia Sartori's life. For the bulk of the novel, we are swept back to Greenwich Village in the early 1950s, where we meet Lucia's family. Beautiful and talented Lucia, who works in the custom dress shop at B. Altman's, wants to retain her maiden name after marriage, continue in a nonfamily business, and delay having children, all taboo for an Italian Catholic. Then she meets the irresistible John Talbot, and Lucia's happy life seems destined to unravel. Trigiani creates a compelling story, artfully uniting a snapshot of the past with the present. This bittersweet novel should have broad appeal. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/03.]-Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Budding playwright Kit Zanetti is invited to tea by her elderly neighbor, and she is amazed at the apartment full of memorabilia. Her question about a beautiful full-length mink coat begins the story of "Aunt Lu's" long and interesting life. Lucia Sartori, the youngest child and only daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village in the early '50s, is engaged to marry her childhood sweetheart, Dante DiMartino. Almost on the eve of the wedding, Lucia is shocked to learn that his mother expects her to quit her job as a seamstress at B. Altman's department store to stay at home and help her future mother-in-law and to prepare for the children she is expected to have. Lucia resents having to choose between career and marriage, so she breaks the engagement. Later, she meets suave and debonair John Talbot, who sweeps her off her feet. He gives her a beautiful, full-length mink coat. Only after being jilted at the altar does Lucia learn that he is a con man. After this unfortunate event, Lucia's plans to go to California to pursue her career are thwarted when her mother becomes ill. Now she must decide between love and duty or her own happiness. Finely drawn characters move the story along with warmth and humor, relationships in Lucia's big Italian family are lovingly detailed, and there is a strong sense of place. Readers who enjoyed Trigiani's "Big Stone Gap" trilogy (Random) will find that she again tells an engaging story.-Carol Clark, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

Lucia Sartori is the only daughter in an Italian family living in New York City during the postwar boom of the 1950s. When her ambitions turn to fashion design, her life becomes both glamorous and complicated. Mira Sorvino escorts the listener through Lucia's exciting and tumultuous career with insightful precision, carefully representing Italian dialects, phrases, and emotion. When Lucia finds herself in the midst of a scandal, Sorvino provides the bravado and pacing to keep the story on track, carefully providing equal commitment to all the characters. Although differentiation between male and female characters could have been more prominent, Sorvino's performance as Lucia is excellent. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews