BIG LITTLE ISLAND

by Valenti Angelo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1955

Again New York (see The Bells of Bleecker Street- 1949) and Italy (see The - Marble Fountain - 1951) merge for a very warm and human story of Lorenzo, 14 and a war refugee, who comes to stay with his aunt and uncle who run a bakery in Greenwich Village. Lorenzo is a frank, pensive boy, in many ways unlike his American contemporaries, and throughout the book, there is the theme of his nostalgia for a lost home. Uncle Tonio and Aunt Angelina have their problems too. Nick, their eldest, has the earmarks of becoming a hoodlum until he joins the Navy and realizes his responsibilities. Nevertheless, there is a tie of love and understanding that nourishes the whole family, and Lorenzo, whose artistic talents are beginning to sustain him too, comes to believe in a happy, hard working future in a new land. Though the story is too episodic and at times too facile to convey the impression of well planned fiction it has its value as a sincere portrayal of an open, emotional people.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1955

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955

Categories: FICTION