A big, bold, brash
Italian-American family is at the heart of Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian
Love Story. This fun-loving,
bittersweet novel by Terri-Lynne DeFino orbits around Varina
Palladino, a hard-working, widow. Now happily-single, the 70-year-old manages
the family’s local Italian food specialty shop in Wyldale, New Jersey.
Many characters and plotlines are
threaded through Varina’s life. This includes Varina’s spry, 92-year-old
mother, Sylvia, whose is determined to find a romantic match for Varina. With
the help of Donatella--Varina’s n’er do well daughter; Sylvia’s granddaughter--the
two Palladino women secretly advertise Varina’s singlehood. The boldness of
their plan backfires at the same time Varina’s three adult children face their
own life challenges. This includes Dante, running the family construction
business and flirting with divorce, and Davide, a hair salon owner, who is at
odds with his erratic, younger sister, Donatella, who just can’t seem to get
her life on track. There’s also good-natured, reliable Paulie, once the
Palladino’s neighbor, now their border, who was pseudo-adopted by Varina after
he came out as gay and his own family disowned him. When Varina, on her
birthday, decides to celebrate by fulfilling her lifelong dream to travel, her
decision becomes just one of many life-changing transitions made by each member
of the family.
From the passions of love and family
fireworks, to authentic recipes, Italian superstitions and expressions, DeFino (The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for
Famous Writers) serves up a hilariously
colorful, contemporary epic where lovably flawed characters and lively Italian
details will wholeheartedly charm readers.
Varina
Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story by Terri-Lynne DeFino
William Morrow & Company, $27.99 hardcover, 9780063228436,
416 pages
Publishing Date: February 14, 2023
To order
this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE
NOTE: This review
is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (March 3, 2023), link HERE