Set
in the glittering, vibrant New York City of 1950, Lucia, Lucia is
the enthralling story of a passionate, determined young woman whose
decision to follow her heart changes her life forever.
Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old
daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The
postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with
ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer
at chic B. Altman's department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to
her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is
torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown
luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society
pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams,
Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which
secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the
Sartoris' honor is tested.
Lucia is surrounded by richly drawn
New York characters, including her best friend, the quick-witted
fashion protégé Ruth Kaspian; their boss, Delmarr,
B. Altman's head designer and glamorous man-about-town; her devoted
brothers, Roberto, Orlando, Angelo, and Exodus, self-appointed protectors
of the jewel of the family; and her doting father, Antonio. Filled
with the warmth and humor that have earned Adriana Trigiani hundreds
of thousands of devoted readers with her Big Stone Gap trilogy,
Lucia, Lucia also bursts with a New York sensibility that shows
the depth and range of this beloved author. As richly detailed as
the couture garments Lucia sews, as emotional as the bonds in her
big Italian family, it is the story of one woman who believes that
in a world brimming with so much promise, she can-and should be
able to-have it all.
From the Hardcover edition.
