12/19/2022
DeFino (The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)) offers a bighearted story of a suburban New Jersey Italian family. Holding the family together, if barely, is 70-year-old Varina Palladino, widowed 14 years and running the family’s grocery store. Varina’s feisty 92-year-old mother, Sylvia, and her volatile 35-year-old daughter, Donatella, believe Varina needs a new guy in her life, and they concoct a plan to arrange a match. Meanwhile, Varina has plans to travel in Europe, Sylvia finds a possible love interest of her own, Donatella gets in trouble for violating a restraining order against her ex, and a gay family friend yearns for Donatella’s older brother. DeFino prefaces each chapter with colorful definitions of Italian American slang and hand gestures (“To counter the maloik , make the ma’cornoot (mana cornuto, in Italian) or, the ‘devil’ sign, by making a fist and leaving up index finger and pinky”). DeFino keeps the many plots spinning over the course of a year, with happy romances tempered by bittersweet changes in the characters’ lives and a mental health diagnosis for Donatella. Readers will be glad to immerse themselves in the Palladinos’ exuberant world. Agent: Janna Bonikowski, Knight Agency. (Feb.)
Delightful and witty, Terri-Lynne DeFino weaves a poignant tale about tradition, love and family.” — Stephanie Evanovich, New York Times bestselling author of Big Girl Panties
"This charming novel has it all; delivering heart, humor, unexpected romance and top-notch writing. It’s easily comparable to one of the rom-com bestsellers of 2022, Emily Henry’s delightful Book Lovers, as full of fun, surprises and a little heartache. If you are a fan of the films Moonstruck or My Big Fat Greek Wedding with their loud, loving, exuberant and relatable middle-class families, you are in for a real treat." — BookTrib
"DeFino’s zesty homage to the northern New Jersey microcosm delights with its universality and specificity." — Booklist (starred review)
"A bighearted story of a suburban Jersey Italian family...Readers will be glad to immerse themselves in the Palladinos’ exuberant world." — Publishers Weekly
“There are a lot of laughs despite the mayhem and drama, and of course, many family dinners (with recipes!), but it is love that permeates and elevates this terrific Italian family saga.” — Library Journal
“Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characters—their voices and stories— will be with me for a long time to come. I didn’t want to say good-bye.” — Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author of Hieroglyphics
12/01/2022
It's been a few years since DeFino's The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (and Their Muses), but it was worth the wait for this story of a big, boisterous Italian family that offers a lesson in New Jersey—inflected Italian. The family includes a couple of sons, their wives, exes, and kids; Donatella's best friend, a gay man abandoned by his Italian family and taken in by hers; and "Vicky," the haunted record-playing Victrola. The family matriarch, Sylvia, is approaching her 93rd birthday and is worried about her widowed daughter, Varina. Together with her favorite grandchild, Donatella, the two cook up a scheme to attract single grandfathers looking for love as possible matches for Varina. Meanwhile, Varina books herself a secret cruise and finds a new best friend, her daughter gets a diagnosis that surprises no one, and a new baby is on the way. VERDICT There are a lot of laughs despite the mayhem and drama, and of course, many family dinners (with recipes!), but it is love that permeates and elevates this terrific Italian family saga. Adriana Trigiani fans will feel right at home here; a slightly more food-centric read-alike is Angelina's Bachelors by Brian O'Reilly.—Stacy Alesi
Narrator Eva Kaminsky performs this family drama with an evocative Jersey accent. Widow Varina is content with the routine of running her family's store, but her 92-year-old mother, Sylvia, wants Varina to find love again, and she teams up with her granddaughter, Donatella, on a plan. The three men of the family--Dante, Tommy, and Paulie--are experiencing their own significant life changes. In a loving, chaotic family, secrets aren't kept long. Three generations are depicted through Kaminsky's gravelly voice as family members emphatically voice their opinions. In contrast, Kaminsky uses a posh tone for Varina's wealthy friend. The author introduces Italian words and what they mean in various contexts before each chapter in which they are used, and this enhances the story. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Narrator Eva Kaminsky performs this family drama with an evocative Jersey accent. Widow Varina is content with the routine of running her family's store, but her 92-year-old mother, Sylvia, wants Varina to find love again, and she teams up with her granddaughter, Donatella, on a plan. The three men of the family--Dante, Tommy, and Paulie--are experiencing their own significant life changes. In a loving, chaotic family, secrets aren't kept long. Three generations are depicted through Kaminsky's gravelly voice as family members emphatically voice their opinions. In contrast, Kaminsky uses a posh tone for Varina's wealthy friend. The author introduces Italian words and what they mean in various contexts before each chapter in which they are used, and this enhances the story. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
