The Supreme Macaroni Company: A Novel

by Adriana Trigiani Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Overview

New York Times Bestseller ¿ Publishers Weekly Bestseller

In The Supreme Macaroni Company, bestselling author Adriana Trigiani weaves a heartbreaking story that begins on the eve of a wedding in New York's Greenwich Village and culminates in beautiful Tuscany. Family, work, romance, and the unexpected twists of life and fate all come together in an unforgettable narrative that Trigiani fans will adore.

For over a hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This ancient business partnership provides the twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the schoolteacher turned shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret.

But after the wedding celebrations are over, Valentine wakes up to the hard reality of juggling the demands of a new business and the needs of her new family. Confronted with painful choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: ""A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything."" Now the proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves-the bitter and the sweet of life itself.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2013 - AudioFile

Narrator Cassandra Campbell is matchless in this third segment of the Valentine Roncalli series, which is packed with family antics, laughs—and, most importantly, a wedding, as Valentine finally marries her Italian fiancé, Gianluca Vecchiarelli. Campbell's delivery will make listeners feel as if Valentine is a precious friend—and they’ll want to know everything about her. The rest of the Roncalli family and friends, particularly Dutch, Valentine’s delightful father, are also true to life. Listeners feel privy to their thoughts, arguments, joys, and sorrows. The vignettes about their Italian-American family life and love of mother Italy add to the intimacy. Most enjoyable—Campbell is keenly adept at delivering both the subtle and direct humor that Trigiani sprinkles throughout this fine book. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

09/09/2013
Trigiani (The Shoemaker’s Wife) explores the delicate balance (and unbalance) between work, family, and love. Valentine Roncalli, a shoemaker at her family’s business, Angelini Shoe Company, is going to marry her tanner, Gianluca Vechiarelli. Gianluca wants to return to his native Italy; Valentine is committed to keeping the family concern running in Greenwich Village. Further complicating things is a difficult moment between Valentine and an old friend, which threatens the marriage. The way the couple juggle their jobs and their complicated families with understanding, sympathy, and love is often hilarious, in spite of the frustration it brings to both of them. A twist near the end of the book is not unexpected, but tense shifts get a little dizzying and it’s easy to get ahead of the story. The pages detailing how Valentine practices her craft of shoemaking are superb. Trigiani’s ability to bring the large, warm, enveloping—if somewhat dysfunctional—family to life will keep any reader engrossed and entertained. (Nov.)

Library Journal

As with last year's The Shoemaker's Wife, the author's hottest seller to date, Trigiani picks up the cobbler's toolkit to craft a story about love and work that ranges from New York to Italy and beyond. As Valentine Roncalli seeks to maintain the 100-year-old family business—the Greenwich Village-based Angelini Shoe Company—she complicates her life by falling in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner whose secrets start to emerge on Christmas Eve as the couple celebrate the Feast of the Seven Fishes with Valentine's family. With a one-day laydown on November 5 (news on this book just arrived), a ten-city tour, and a 150,000-copy first printing; pushed at BookExpo America.

NOVEMBER 2013 - AudioFile

Narrator Cassandra Campbell is matchless in this third segment of the Valentine Roncalli series, which is packed with family antics, laughs—and, most importantly, a wedding, as Valentine finally marries her Italian fiancé, Gianluca Vecchiarelli. Campbell's delivery will make listeners feel as if Valentine is a precious friend—and they’ll want to know everything about her. The rest of the Roncalli family and friends, particularly Dutch, Valentine’s delightful father, are also true to life. Listeners feel privy to their thoughts, arguments, joys, and sorrows. The vignettes about their Italian-American family life and love of mother Italy add to the intimacy. Most enjoyable—Campbell is keenly adept at delivering both the subtle and direct humor that Trigiani sprinkles throughout this fine book. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2013-09-15
The third in a trilogy about the life of Valentine Roncalli. Trigiani (The Shoemaker's Wife, 2012, etc.) re-enters familiar territory here, both in that this book follows two previous novels about the Roncalli family and in that it has many of her hallmarks: sprawling Italian families, old-world craftsmanship, and melodious love letters to New York City and Italy. Narrator Valentine Roncalli is (as she frequently declares) an artist, designing shoes for a small, family-owned and -run shoe company. As the novel begins, she is being proposed to by Gianluca Vechiarelli, an Italian purveyor of fine leathers 18 years her senior. Readers are told immediately of several possible conflicts in this marriage, outside of the age difference: Both characters have layered romantic pasts; neither are sure how Gianluca will fit in with the shoe business; and he'd prefer to live in Italy. These issues mostly simmer in the background as the book plods through the next few years of their life together. The beginning is largely devoted to the lavish wedding Valentine's family plans for them. Then it's back to the shoe business, a lovely trip to Tuscany and the birth of a daughter. The simmering issues come to a boil at intervals throughout but rarely spur character change. While the narration is exposition-heavy, readers unfamiliar with the first two Valentine books may have trouble fitting the pieces together. Fans of Trigiani's Valentine books will find plenty of fodder here.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173844200
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/26/2013
Series:	Valentine Trilogy , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged

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