In America
Wayfarer
Trilogy: Book Three
By: Nina Romano
Publish Date: July 19, 2016,
Turner Publishing
Turner Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 325 PDF
Source: Turner Publishing
Beautiful,
headstrong Marcella Scimenti has the affection of a handsome neighborhood boy,
the love of her large Italian family, and serious dreams of singing in
Hollywood. But the course of true love—nor the journey to finding one’s true
self—never did run smooth.
In America
follows the story of Marcella, the daughter of the characters at the center of
Nina Romano’s continent-spanning Wayfarer Trilogy, as she comes of age in Bay
Ridge, Brooklyn, in the late 1920s. In the trilogy’s heartwarming conclusion,
Marcella must learn to balance new friendships, promising suitors, and life as a
modern working girl with the expectations of her tradition-bound family, all
against the backdrop of a looming economic depression and a changing world.
Along the way,
she unearths a devastating family secret that shakes her to her core and tests
the boundaries of her love, loyalty, and faith.
*********************************
My
thanks to Turner Publishing for an ARC the purposes of an unbiased review; In America publishing date is July 19,
2016.
Author
Nina Romano’s third book in her Wayfarer Trilogy brings the reader to Brooklyn,
New York of the late 1920s. Really, nothing could be more iconic than the
Italian experience in New York and here the story of Giacomo (The Secret Language of Women) comes to
completion with the story of Marcella, his daughter, coming of age.
Marcella
is a wonderfully complex character who has a definite mind of her own and is somewhat
pigheaded to boot. I love that she’s
rebellious against her so-Italian family’s designs for her, and she even cuts her long
hair just at her 16th birthday to show what’s what. Like all young
girls, she’s dreaming of and seeking the
one. She also has competing big career dreams that she strives to make a
reality.
The
first half of the novel leads the reader mostly through everyday occurrences
and Marcella’s forays into life though author Nina Romano has a gift for
infusing her stories with abundant, rich detail that make this very pleasurable.
The gustatory delights are parallel to book 1 of the series and I always came
away wanting to plant my own herb garden for cooking and get real busy in the
kitchen. I also find the author has so many details to share in fact that I
found this occasionally gets to be a bit of a grocery list (sometimes, a little
less is more).
Halfway,
when things seem to be settling into the predictable, there’s a great and
unfathomable twist that brings Giacomo’s earlier days in China to full circle
to Marcella and his family in present day. This is a fantastic way to tie in
Giacomo’s haunting memories of his earlier life.
The
ending eventually wraps up a little too easily and quick. I would have liked to
see Marcella make greater strides in her career hopes as her ambition and
ability indicate this but these are seemingly halted abruptly with the
culmination of her romantic aspirations. Considering the times though, love and
romance mostly still trumped career as a priority. Perhaps it still does.
But
I am getting some of what I call ‘Anna Karenina syndrome’ here and that is the
theme that women in books/movies should not stray from their socially prescribed
course or something terrible might happen to them. In the end, Marcella’s
decision is probably right for her but I got the feeling that all that early rebelliousness
was for naught.
You will find Nina Romano on the internet at these links:
Amazon | Nina's Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook
