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Known and loved across the world for her sweeping Big Stone Gap trilogy and the moment New York Times bestseller Lucia, Lucia, Adriana Trigiani returns to the charm and drama of small-town life with Queens of the BIG STYLE. This heartfelt story of the limits and power of love chronicles the impressive lives of the Castellucas, an Italian-American family, over the course of three generations.
In the late 1800s, the residents of a tiny village in the Bari region of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, made a mass migration to the promised land of America. They settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, and re-created their former lives in their new home–right down to the very last detail of who lived next door to whom. The village’s twelve-monthly celebration in our Lady of Mount Carmel–or “the BIG STYLE,” as the occasion is called by the young women who compete to be the pageant’s Queen–is the centerpiece of Roseto’s colorful old-world tradition.
The industrious Castellucas farm the land outside Roseto. Nella, the middle daughter of five, aspires to a genteel life “around,” definately not the rigors of farm life, which have taken a toll on her behalf mother and forced her father to adopt extra work in the slate quarries to make ends meet. But Nella’s dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets Renato Lanzara, the son of an prominent Roseto family. Renato is a worldly, handsome, devil-may-care poet who has a means with words that makes him irresistible. Their friendship ignites into a fiery romance that Nella is certain will lead to marriage. But Nella is not alone in her pursuit: every girl around appears to want Renato. When he disappears without explanation, Nella is left with a shattered heart. Four years later, Renato’s sudden return to Roseto the night time before Nella’s wedding to the steadfast Franco Zollerano leaves her and the Castelluca family shaken. For although Renato has chosen a path completely different from Nella’s, they can be fated to live a life and work in Roseto, where the past hangs over them such as a brewing storm.
An epic of small-town life, etched in glorious detail in the trademark Trigiani style, The Queen of the BIG STYLE is the story of an determined, passionate woman who can't ever forget her first love.
From the Hardcover edition.
