What a satisfying read The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany (#977) is! Lori Nelson Spielman's tale of an Italian American family under the spell of a two hundred year old curse dooming the second born daughters to lives without love hits all the right notes.
Emilia Antonelli has been brought up under the thumb of her unforgiving nonna. At twenty-nine she's settled into an apartment in her grandmother's house, works in the family shop as a baker, and has given up on romance after an accident nearly takes the life of her college boyfriend. Life is good though, she thinks. That is, until the day Aunt Poppy, the family black sheep, invites Emmie and her cousin Luciana, both second born daughters as she is herself, on an all expense-paid trip to Italy. On her eightieth birthday, Poppy will reunite with the love of her life on the steps of the cathedral in Ravello, and break the curse for all second daughters in the Fontana family.
How the trip changes everyone involved is a roller coaster ride of emotions, family secrets, longing and disappointments spread across Bensonhurst, New York, Venice, Florence, Ravello and Amalfi, Italy. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next in this family saga! No wonder I had to wait so long for it to become available at the library.
I think Ms. Spielman only got two things wrong in her book; Ravello is perched so high above the Tyrrenhian Sea you cannot hear the music of the sparkling ocean - you have to be in Amalfi for that. Second, I certainly don't associate the smell of damp concrete with the beautiful cathedral in Ravello. It's a beautiful spot inside and out. I hope Ms. Spielman is lucky enough to find this out for herself one day. In the meantime, this novel is a wonderful way to armchair travel.
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