Valentine Roncalli, shoe designer for the family-owned, New York-based Angelini Shoe Company, is entering a rough patch. Her grandmother has found true love, uprooted herself, and moved to Italy, leaving the specialty shoe business to Valentine and her contentious financial whiz of a brother, Alfred. Along with the care and handling of their large, loud Italian family. When a business venture brings Valentine to Buenos Aires to meet a distant cousin who also owns a shoe factory, she’s in for a surprise: her cousin is black. Valentine’s great-grandfather had split with his brother, and nobody knew why until now. The discovery of this long-buried secret stuns the entire family, who must now try to heal the breach. Family is family, after all. Trigiani’s exciting sequel to Very Valentine (2009), and the second book in a trilogy about Valentine and her family, is a vibrant, warm story about family ties, duty, and love. --Hilary Hatton
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Trigiani's sequel to Very Valentine is a sweet second act for shoemaker and designer Valentine Roncalli. Val takes over the New York family-run shoe business with feet-of-clay older brother, Alfred; falls for the dashing, older Gianluca in Italy; and takes a business risk in South America, where she unearths a dusty chapter of family history. There are plenty of picturesque globe-trotting adventures in Tuscany, Manhattan, and Buenos Aires, and, for artistic and independent Val, a grown-up commitment evolves. There is no art without love. Only love can open someone up to the possibilities of living and creating art, Val writes to the wary Gianluca. And the startling twist of family history finally challenges an old-fashioned, insular clan to join the modern world. But it's always the endearing, unnerving and rowdy Roncallis who steal the show. Look for a heartbreaking exit of one beloved character, and a cliffhanger breakup in this charming valentine to love, forgiveness, and family. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Valentine Roncalli, shoe designer for the family-owned, New York-based Angelini Shoe Company, is entering a rough patch. Her grandmother has found true love, uprooted herself, and moved to Italy, leaving the specialty shoe business to Valentine and her contentious financial whiz of a brother, Alfred. Along with the care and handling of their large, loud Italian family. When a business venture brings Valentine to Buenos Aires to meet a distant cousin who also owns a shoe factory, she’s in for a surprise: her cousin is black. Valentine’s great-grandfather had split with his brother, and nobody knew why until now. The discovery of this long-buried secret stuns the entire family, who must now try to heal the breach. Family is family, after all. Trigiani’s exciting sequel to Very Valentine (2009), and the second book in a trilogy about Valentine and her family, is a vibrant, warm story about family ties, duty, and love. --Hilary Hatton