Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker’s Wife, on tour April 2012

About The Shoemaker’s Wife

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Harper (April 3, 2012)

The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza’s family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Lush and evocative, told in tantalizing detail and enriched with lovable, unforgettable characters, The Shoemaker’s Wife is a portrait of the times, the places and the people who defined the immigrant experience, claiming their portion of the American dream with ambition and resolve, cutting it to fit their needs like the finest Italian silk.

This riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write, one inspired by her own family history and the love of tradition that has propelled her body of bestselling novels to international acclaim. Like Lucia, Lucia, The Shoemaker’s Wife defines an era with clarity and splendor, with operatic scope and a vivid cast of characters who will live on in the imaginations of readers for years to come.

About Adriana Trigiani

Adriana Trigiani is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. The author of the Big Stone Gap series; Very Valentine; Lucia, Lucia, The Queen of the Big Time, and Rococo, she has also written the bestselling memoir Don’t Sing at the Table as well as the young adult novels Viola in Reel Life and Viola in the Spotlight. Her books have been published in thirty-six countries, and she has written and will direct the big-screen version of her first novel, Big Stone Gap. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Visit Adriana at her website: www.adrianatrigiani.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

Adriana’s Tour Stops

Monday, April 2nd: The Huffington Post

Tuesday, April 3rd: Book Journey

Wednesday, April 4th: Reading Lark

Thursday, April 5th: Life Is Short. Read Fast

Friday, April 6th: Amused By Books

Monday, April 9th: Literature and a Lens

Tuesday, April 10th: Book Dilettante

Wednesday, April 11th: Bibliosue

Thursday, April 12th: West Metro Mommy

Monday, April 16th: “That’s Swell!”

Tuesday, April 17th: Confessions of an Avid Reader

Wednesday, April 18th: Reviews by Lola

Monday, April 23rd: Peppermint PhD

Tuesday, April 24th: A Bookish Affair

Wednesday, April 25th: Knowing the Difference

Thursday, April 26th: Library of Clean Reads

Friday, April 27th: Books and Movies

Monday, April 30th: It’s a Crazy, Beautiful Life

Tuesday, May 1st: Walking With Nora

Wednesday, May 2nd: I’m Booking It

Thursday, May 3rd: The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader