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Title: Brava, Valentine
Subtitle: A Novel
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Format: Unabridged
Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-09-10
Publisher: HarperAudio
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 319 votes
Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit
Publisher's Summary:
Adriana Trigiani's best-selling novels are beloved by millions of readers and listeners around the world. From the Big Stone Gap series to Lucia, Lucia, each is a sumptuous treat as Trigiani tells hilarious and romantic stories that we want to return to again and again.
Very Valentine, an instant New York Times best seller and the first in a series about the life of shoemaker Valentine Roncalli, introduced the contemporary saga of the Roncalli and Angelini families, artisans of handcrafted wedding shoes in Greenwich Village since 1903.
As Brava, Valentine begins, snow falls like glitter over Tuscany at the wedding of her grandmother, Teodora, and her longtime love, Dominic. Valentine's dreams are dashed when Gram announces that Alfred, "the prince", Valentine's only brother and nemesis, has been named her partner at Angelini Shoes.
Devastated, Valentine falls into the arms of Gianluca, a sexy Tuscan tanner who made his romantic intentions known on the Isle of Capri. Despite their passion for one another and Gianluca's heartfelt letters, a long-distance relationship seems impossible. As Valentine turns away from romance and devotes herself to her work, mentor and pattern cutter June Lawton guides her through her power struggle with Alfred while best friend and confidante Gabriel Biondi moves into 166 Perry Street, transforming her home and point of view. Savvy financier Bret Fitzpatrick, Valentine's first love and former fiancé who still carries a torch for her, encourages Valentine to exploit her full potential as a designer and a businesswoman with a plan that will bring her singular creations to the world.
A once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity takes Valentine from the winding streets of Greenwich Village to the sun-kissed cobblestones of Buenos Aires, where she finds a long-buried secret hidden deep within a family scandal. Once unearthed, the truth rocks the Roncallis, and Valentine is determined to hold her family together. More so, she longs to create one of her own but is torn between a past love that nurtured her and a new one that promises to sustain her.
Brava, Valentine is Trigiani's best novel yet, delivering a hilarious and poignant mix of colorful worlds and unforgettable characters as only she can create them, proving once again she is "one of the reigning queens of women's fiction" (USA Today).
Editorial Reviews:
Adriana Trigiani's Brava Valentine has arrived just in time to blow the small-town Texas cobwebs off the family saga genre. Her affectionate and hilarious study of the Roncalli family is smart, contemporary, and cliché free. And Cassandra Campbell's warm and emotionally rich narration captures the many colors of the threads that weave this family together perfectly.
The themes Trigiani is working with aren't revolutionary. She's looking at how three generations of independent, intelligent, and resourceful women sort through the complexities of nurturing and balancing self, family, career, and love. What she does that's so refreshing is create a world that is distinctly urban, ethnic, and hip.
Told through the eyes of 30-something Valentine Roncalli, Campbell takes us inside her struggles to understand and navigate the journey to love. With her gift for emotional intimacy, expressing Valentine's conflicts and qualities is where Campbell's narration is most satisfying.
