In
the late 1800s, the residents of a small village in the Bari region
of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, made a mass migration
to the promised land of America. They
settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, and re-created their former lives
in their new home-down to the very last detail of who lived next
door to whom. The village's
annual celebration of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel-or
"the Big Time," as the occasion is called by the young
women who compete to be the pageant's Queen-is the centerpiece of
Roseto's colorful old-world tradition.
The
industrious Castellucas farm the land outside Roseto. Nella, the
middle daughter of five, aspires to a genteel life "in town,"
far from the rigors of farm life, which have taken a toll on her
mother and forced her father to take extra work in the slate quarries
to make ends meet. But Nella's dreams of making her own fortune
shift when she meets Renato Lanzara, the son of a prominent Roseto
family. Renato is a worldly, handsome, devil-may-care poet who has
a way with words that makes him irresistible. Their friendship ignites
into a fiery romance that Nella is certain will lead to marriage.
But Nella is not alone in her pursuit: every girl in town seems
to want Renato. When he disappears without explanation, Nella is
left with a shattered heart. Four years later, Renato's sudden return
to Roseto the night before Nella's wedding to the steadfast Franco
Zollerano leaves her and the Castelluca family shaken. For although
Renato has chosen a path very different from Nella's, they are fated
to live and work in Roseto, where the past hangs over them like
a brewing storm.
An epic of small-town life, etched
in glorious detail in the trademark Trigiani style, THE QUEEN OF
THE BIG TIME is the story of a determined, passionate woman who
can never forget her first love.
Known and loved around the world for her sweeping Big Stone Gap
trilogy and the instant New York Times bestseller LUCIA, LUCIA.
Adriana Trigiani returns to the charm and drama of small-town life
with THE QUEEN OF THE BIG TIME. This heartfelt story of the limits
and power of love chronicles the remarkable lives of the Castellucas,
an Italian-American family, over the course of three generations.