|
|||||
Very Valentine
and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device.
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Check Out Related Media
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Adriana Trigiani
|
by Adriana Trigiani
|
by Adriana Trigiani
|
by Maeve Binchy
|
by Adriana Trigiani
|
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Book Description
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.
A Note from Adriana Trigiani
The story of this novel began with a lady on a roof. Every morning, I head over to the Hudson River Park for fresh air and a run (just found out the exhaust fumes of the West Side Highway could kill me more quickly than lack of exercise, go figure), and I became obsessed with a woman living on one of the last small buildings facing the river amidst the “progress” of glamorous high-rises and hotels. I’d wonder, “Why does she stay?” Most summer mornings she was in her housecoat tending to tomato plants that line the fence of her rooftop. I never waved or rang her bell, but I connected to her. She reminded me of my grandmothers, who had their own gardens, and for most of their widowed lives, lived alone. I began to look for the woman, and when I saw her, I felt relieved, as though life wasn’t really racing by, and that the past was somehow, in the form of this lady, still alive.
This lady, whose name I do not know and whom I have never met, brought me to the story of Carlo Bonicelli, my grandfather, a shoemaker. I keep a photograph of him on my desk to remind me of the artisans that came before me. (It’s a crowded desktop; those of you who read Lucia, Lucia know about the seamstresses in my family!)
My grandfather Carlo died when he was thirty-nine years old. My grandmother told me that while he repaired shoes and built them, his dream was to design them. He did not live long enough to see his dream materialize. With my grandmother gone, I asked my mother about him, about his work. This wasn’t easy, as my mom cries whenever she talks about her father. As those of you dutiful children out there know, when our mothers cry, it’s like somebody’s plunging a knife into our chests. But this time, I asked her not to cry, and she told me the story of the Bonicelli shoes. Then I went to Italy with my dear pal Gina Casella, (with our five-year-old daughters in tow) to learn how to make shoes. I met a few of the great artisans, who became the inspiration for the shoemakers in this novel.
The trip changed my creative life, but it also changed the substance and course of this story. I come from people who survived by the labor of their own hands in a glorious country of their choice (our United States). I always knew this, but now I understand it. I only live as an artist because they gave me their stories, and because you read them. So, Dear Reader (love it--so Jane Austen!), Very Valentine is for you. It’s about all of us: our family dynamics, our dreams, our luck or lack of it in matters of the heart, and how we negotiate going forward, in a world that’s moving so fast, even a stroll is now a blur. This is the first of three books about Valentine Roncalli and her family of shoemakers. When I wrote it, I wanted to bring you old world craftsmanship, the magical setting of Greenwich Village, in a contemporary family saga told in vivid detail. I hope you enjoy it.
From Publishers Weekly
This first-in-a-trilogy is a frilly valentine to Manhattan's picturesque West Village, starring a boisterous and charmingly contentious Italian-American family. Valentine Roncalli, adrift after a failed relationship and an aborted teaching career, becomes an apprentice to her 80-year-old grandmother, Teodora Angelini, at the tiny family shoe business. While Valentine struggles to come up with a financial plan—and shoe design—to bring the Old World operation into the 21st century, her brother, Alfred, is pushing Gram to retire and sell her building for $6 million. It's not all business for Valentine, of course: handsome and sophisticated Roman Falconi, owner and chef at a posh restaurant, is vying for her heart. Bestselling Trigiani channels ambition and girl-power, but is surprisingly reserved—and retro—when it comes to romance: [O]ur relationship has to build slowly and beautifully in order to hold all the joy and misery that lies ahead, thinks Valentine. Still, this genteel and lush tale of soles and souls has loads of charm and will leave readers eager for the sequel. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
› Visit Amazon's Adriana Trigiani Page
› Visit Amazon's Adriana Trigiani Page
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
(learn more)
clickety click, holy agony, wedding shoes, stacked heel Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Adriana Tigiani, Adrian Trigiani, Rhedd Lewis, Angelini Shoe Company, Roman Falconi, Perry Street, Adrian Tigiani, Aunt Feen, New York, Hudson River, Forest Hills, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Blue Grotto, Fifth Avenue, West Side Highway, Signora Guarasci, Bella Rosa, Costanzo Ruocco, Mott Street, Spolti Inn, Adriana Trigiani, Italian Americans, Bret Fitzpatrick, Scott Hatcher Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
clickety click, holy agony, wedding shoes, stacked heel Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Adriana Tigiani, Adrian Trigiani, Rhedd Lewis, Angelini Shoe Company, Roman Falconi, Perry Street, Adrian Tigiani, Aunt Feen, New York, Hudson River, Forest Hills, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Blue Grotto, Fifth Avenue, West Side Highway, Signora Guarasci, Bella Rosa, Costanzo Ruocco, Mott Street, Spolti Inn, Adriana Trigiani, Italian Americans, Bret Fitzpatrick, Scott Hatcher Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
83% buy the item featured on this page: Very Valentine: A Novel $17.15 |
 |
8% buy Viola in Reel Life $9.17 |
 |
3% buy Home to Big Stone Gap: A Novel (Big Stone Gap Novels) $10.17 |
 |
3% buy Lucia Lucia: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) $10.04 |
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Product Information from the Amapedia Community
Beta (What's this?)Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.
› See featured Amapedia.com articles
Look for Similar Items by Category
Look for Similar Items by Subject
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
