The Islands of Divine Music is a novel of five generations of an Italian-American family finding its place in the New World. Against a backdrop of Immigration, Prohibition, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the new millennium, five generations of the Verbicaro family make their way from Southern Italy to San Francisco as each character brushes up against some aspect of the divine. The family matriarch is Rosari, a little girl whose family...

EUGENIA PANISPORCHI LIVES WITH HER MOTHER, TEACHES CHAUCER, AND REMEMBERS ALL HER PAST LIVES. SHE IS DESPERATE TO CHANGE HER FUTURE. Born this time around into a South Philadelphia Italian-American family so traditional, she and her siblings are expected to marry in birth order, Eugenia lives a simple life―no love connection, no controversy, no complications. Her hope is that the Blessed Virgin Mary (who oversees her soul's progress) will grant...

This lavish history of Italian Americans in America provides a powerful focus on the immigrant experience with is packed with black and white photos capturing all facets of Italian American heritage and life. Over 200 photos in black and white and color pack a social history of Italian immigrants and how they have influenced American history and culture.

Each day wrecks are towed into Paradise Salvage where the ferocious crusher presides. But on a hot summer day in 1979, in the trunk of an abandoned Pontiac Bonneville, twelve-year-old Nunzio Paradiso uncovers a secret that will change his life. In the blink of an eye, all evidence is lost to the crusher, and only his older brother Danny Boy believes Nunzio's story of what he saw there.

In the fall of '73, Brooklyn, New York, is home to worn-down hotels, wise guys, immigrants, the disturbed, the disenfranchised, and a few people just trying to make an honest buck. When Silvano Iurata's troubled brother, Noonie, rumored to be living in Brooklyn Heights, goes missing, Silvano returns to a place he swore he'd never set foot in again. Silvano left Brooklyn a long time ago wanting to leave behind his family and their seedy mob connections,...

Twenty-something and aimless, Joey Vitello still lives at home with his colorful Italian-American family when he is reunited with a childhood schoolmate, Mary O'Callahan. Once mocked as "Scary Mary," this ugly duckling has blossomed into an irresistible beauty. She's returned to the old neighborhood after an intense bout with cancer. When Joey learns her cure was the result of a miracle, friendship turns to romance as she educates him on the crossroads...

The anti-hero of this novel, Johnny Panuzio, an Italian-American advertising executive from Connecticut, seeks refuge from today's problems by daydreaming of old-country values. When he finally decides to act by writing a series of articles on inequality for the local paper, his bravery costs him a demotion at work.

"Mangia with Micheline started as a simple article about life and food, but it became so much more. It became a journey during which my mother shared her wisdom, stories, encouragement, recipes and love to make this book a reality." --