- Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Fawcett; Reprint edition (Sep 27 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345472446
- ISBN-13: 978-0345472441
- Product Dimensions: 16 x 10.7 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,051,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Carol Clark, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
From her window Kit Zanetti can see absolutely everything that happens on Commerce Street. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
From her window Kit Zanetti can see absolutely everything that happens on Commerce Street. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
bella story,
By Ashley Cooley (Corinth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lucia, Lucia: A Novel (Hardcover)
Lucia, Lucia has everything I love to read about: fashion, art, travel, food, religion, love, and most importantly family. I loved it when the family visited Italy, I felt like I was there with Lucia and Rosemary walking the streets of Rome. Lucia's family means everything to her, especially her Papa. Lucia believes she is cursed in love, but getting married is not her dream like it is for her friends. She wants more! Work is important to her. She loves her job at B. Altman's working with her best friends Ruth and Delmarr. I loved that this took place in the early 50's because it's untraditional to what I know about the 50's. I'm crazy about this book and will keep it because there are some recipes in it I can't wait to try like tartufo (snowballs). I would recommend this to sisters, friends, mothers, and mother-in-laws.
3.0 out of 5 stars
No ear for dialogue; something's missing here,
By
This review is from: Lucia, Lucia: A Novel (Hardcover)
Everyone who checks this book out of the library where I work enjoys it very much, so read my review with a grain of salt. I did enjoy reading the book on a long plane trip; it passed the time in a pleasant way. If I'd been home and had other things to do, other books to read, I may not have finished it. I love a book where the dialogue is realistic and the actions characters take seem fitting and believable. There is something amateurish about the way this book is written. Somehow it just doesn't ring true to my ear. Also, I wonder about how the book was set up: you know right from the very start that "Aunt Lu" never gets married. That ruins the suspense that might have built later in the story. Not only did I think the beginning nearly ruined the story, but it also seemed contrived. I did enjoy learning about that time period and the pressure the modern world puts on the traditions of family and culture. I also very much enjoyed learning about Lucia's job; her love of her work and passion for fashion, cloth, style was quite convincing.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lucia, Lucia,
By Mary (Austin,TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lucia, Lucia: A Novel (Paperback)
An excellent read, It captivated my attention! This is the firstbook I have read by Adriana Trigiani. I have already ordered 3 of her other novels. I'm sure they will delight!I felt Lucia's character was very real. The Sartori's travels to Italy were warm and familial. This book will touch your heart It deals with weddings, death, love and close knit family bonds. I recommend it highly!
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