From Jersey to Italia, with love: ‘The View From Lake Como’ soars.

On this episode of Fully Booked, Adriana Trigiani joins us to discuss her latest novel, The View From Lake Como (Dutton, July 8), an instant New York Times bestseller. “A good Italian American daughter’s 30-something rebellion forces her entire family to reckon with their choices,” Kirkus writes in a review of The View From Lake Como, “resulting in a happily-ever-after for all that’s like the best affogato: rich, bitter, sweet.”

Here’s a bit more from our review: “Giuseppina ‘Jess’ Capodimonte Baratta lives in her parents’ basement, and it’s not the finished kind, but more like an old-fashioned cellar with a bed and a dresser. Her family has long struggled with money problems, so many that Jess had to go to community college instead of the four-year institutions her sister and brother attended. At 33, she’s landed back at her childhood home in Lake Como, New Jersey, because she’s left her husband, Bobby Bilancha.…Then Uncle Louie, the proprietor of Capodimonte Marble and Stone who has mentored Jess as his deputy, dies of a heart attack and leaves the business in her hands.…Jess chooses to ignore her overbearing mother’s advice and fly to Carrara, the home of the world’s most beautiful stones—and stonemasons, like Angelo Strazza, whose specialty is applying fragile gold leaf to carved pieces. From brushing up on her Italian to investigating Uncle Louie’s somewhat mysterious past, Jess soon discovers she needs less of her family’s assistance than she or they ever believed.”

Trigiani is thebestselling author of 20 works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Shoemaker’s Wife, the Big Stone Gap series, the Valentine trilogy and Lucia, Lucia. She is an award-winning playwright, television writer and producer, filmmaker, and podcast host (You Are What You Read). She lives in New York.

In a spirited conversation, Trigiani and I discuss The View From Lake Como’s themes of family, resilience, self-discovery, and personal transformation. We talk about the awesome power of literature, the significance of surnames, the impact of heritage on identity, the best Italian cookies, and much more.

Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, John McMurtrie, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

EDITORS’ PICKS:

Tyger by SF Said, illus. by Dave McKean (Penguin Workshop)

Island Storm by Brian Floca, illus. by Sydney Smith (Neal Porter/Holiday House)

Marseille 1940: The Flight of Literature by Uwe Wittstock, trans. by Daniel Bowles (Polity)

Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee (Summit)

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

The Museum of Lies by J. Timothy Hunt

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.