While we can’t travel to far away places right now, you can escape to Italy in this lovely book. The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany has a fairy-tale feel as it is about an Italian family who believes in the Fontana family curse which dates back 200 years. Every second-born daughter is doomed to never finding true love and shall remain unmarried.
In present day Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Emilia works in her family bakery. Her older sister is married with children and Emilia lives a simple life making cannoli, wears drab clothes and deep down fears that she is destined to be a victim of the family curse. When Emilia is approached by her Great Aunt Poppy (her unmarried aunt who is estranged from the family) to travel to Italy to celebrate her 80th birthday, she initially refuses. But her aunt promises to share stories of Emilia’s deceased mother (who died when Emilia was two years old) and convinces her that they can finally break the family curse while in Italy. Emilia and her cousin Lucy (another second-born daughter desperately searching for love) agree to go on this adventure, much to the dismay of the rest of the family, especially her grandmother, Aunt Poppy’s older sister.
Part of the book takes place in the past when Poppy was a young woman. We learn of her great romance before leaving Italy for America and what caused her to lose contact with the rest of the family.
Author Lori Nelson Spielman has created a heartwarming story about finding your true self. I so enjoyed the journey of Emilia and Lucy and finding out about Aunt Polly’s past. And I loved the imagery - the canals of Venice, the Tuscan countryside and the Amalfi Coast. The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany truly tugged at my heart.
Rated 4.25 out of 5 stars.
Contemporary Fiction.
Publication Date: November 17, 2020.
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