Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price: £4.99 (Kindle)
Thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli is an apprentice shoemaker in her family business, learning to craft beautiful hand-made shoes from her grandmother while enduring the pressure from her Italian-American family to find a man and settle down. Just as she discovers the family business is in seriously financial difficulty, she meets Roman, a successful chef, and the possibility of a relationship with somebody who understands the pressures of her work becomes real. But what does Valentine really want?
Two things made me want to dislike this book. First, as a European, it annoys me when Americans call themselves Italians. Italians are Italians. They come from Italy.
Second, we are past 10% into the book before an initiating event occurs that starts the story moving. That’s 10% of the book that is pure introduction, exposition and wondering if something is going to happen soon.
I’m telling you this so you know Trigiani won me over in spite of all this.
The Italian American problem didn’t matter so much because Trigiani is able to vividly reproduce this American subculture with writing that is both beautiful and funny. Thus 10% of the book being exposition feels like having dinner with someone delightful sharing stories about a family wedding. It doesn’t matter what I think about American’s imagining they’re Italians – Trigiani shows us what this means to them and how it permeates their lives.
As for the romance, this is a love story between Valentine and her dream – making shoes – as much as it is Valentine and Roman. As her relationships help her discover more about herself, you’ll join a journey of self-discover and self-affirmation delightfully positive and real. The research into shoemaking is top notch and Trigiani writes this so well it fascinates.
I rather miss Valentine now the book is finished – although this is the first of a trilogy so I can always find out what happens next. But this book was satisfying, complete, and human. I wouldn’t hesitate to read more of this author’s work.
