The Supreme Macaroni Company

September 9, 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.

October 1, 2013

Trigiani's latest (after The Shoemaker's Wife) introduces readers to Val Roncalli, shoemaker and member of a boisterously loud Italian American family that always keeps things interesting. Fiercely independent and set in her ways, Val shocks everyone on Christmas Eve, during a routine family fight, when she announces that Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner, has proposed to her. More shocking is that Val has accepted. The two are married quickly, plunging Val into a lifestyle so alien she nearly demands a divorce. Slowly, she comes to accept her new life and the meaning of love and marriage. VERDICT Val's eccentric family keeps the book going at a quick pace, distracting readers from Val's insecure baby steps toward marital bliss. Recommended for all Trigiani fans and those who've enjoyed a good cookie table (an Italian tradition commonly seen at weddings in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia). [See Prepub Alert, 6/3/13.]--Mara Dabrishus, Ursuline Coll. Lib., Pepper Pike, OH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013

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.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013
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.

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October 1, 2013
The final novel in Trigiani's Valentine trilogy (Very Valentine, 2009; Brava, Valentine, 2010) finds shoemaker Valentine Roncalli planning her wedding to Gianluca Vechiarelli, a handsome Italian nearly 20 years her senior and the son of her grandmother's new husband. As Gianluca adjusts to life amid the boisterous, extended Roncalli clan, the fiercely independent Valentine, an ambitious and talented shoe designer, struggles to balance work and home life, with her marriage often taking a backseat to her career. Cultural differences between the pair widen as her plans to open a factory as she becomes a first-time mother clash with his vision for the couple's future, which includes a home in Tuscany. Though the conflict is plausible, it comes across as vaguely overplotted. For those who have followed Valentine's ups and downs from the start, Trigiani's send-off is bound to feel bittersweet in more ways than one. For readers new to the series, missing the occasional insider reference has its advantagesthey still have two books ahead of them and the chance to meet Valentine where she began.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2014
Valentine Roncalli, a shoemaker and designer in her family's business, marries her leather tanner Gianluca, who is 20 years older, and the son of Valentine's grandmother's new husband. After their honeymoon, they return to their lives, but not all is bliss; Val is tied to New York, and Gianluca is bound to Italy. The story is typical Trigiani, but fans of the trilogy ("Very Valentine; Brava Valentine"), who like their romantic endings happy, should be warned: this does not end as they would want. This will not deter most listeners, however. Reader Cassandra Campbell continues to give voice to the characters in the trilogy and does a credible job at subtle changes among the numerous characters. VERDICT Purchase where Trigiani's works are popular. ["Val's eccentric family keeps the book going at a quick pace, distracting readers from Val's insecure baby steps toward marital bliss," read the review of the Harper hc, "LJ" 10/1/13.]--Suanne Roush, Seminole, FL

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.