This multigenerational novel begins in Calabria, as Umbertina persuades her husband to emigrate. Through years of struggle on New York City's Lower East Side and in a growing upstate New York town, it is Umbertina's determination, ingenuity, and business sense that propel the family into financial success and security-leaving her daughters and granddaughters to sort out their identities as Italian Americans and as women.
"…an important novel for these times… Through a dazzling interplay of American and Italian characters in both countries, Helen Barolini delineates the major concerns of all thinking American ethnics."
