READ THIS: BRAVA, VALENTINE By Adriana Trigiani

We are getting close to 150 books for our review column, and we must say there are very few fiction titles that have made it.  Quite funny, as ordinarily we prefer fiction but we have a hard time finding quality in fiction.   We have found it here!  This is the first book Peachy Deegan has reviewed by Adriana Trigani and it will not be the last.  In Brava, Valentine, Trigani intelligently weaves plots and subplots around a Manhattan family that runs a shoe business.  That was the first hook; as we don't like shoes THAT much we only have dedicated three columns to them...Shoe of the week (Women), and (Men) and See Manhattan on Your Feet.   Aside from Trigani capturing a main interest point for us, the family she introduces us to is lovable despite their flaws, and who doesn't have them?!  

You will find yourself cheering Valentine on through her journeys cross-continent and her story will inspire you.  And of course, we love that she was close to her grandmother.  See Peachy's grandmother on the side with the Deegan girls?  Peachy and her grandmother did not make shoes but they sure did know how to shop for them!  (Peachy still does, of course.)

We understand this is the second novel in a trilogy, so we can't wait to go back and read the first and look forward to the third coming out!  Whom You Know recommends Brava, Valentine.

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Bestselling and beloved author Adriana Trigiani writes with compassion, insight and humor about the complicated lives of today’s women, and this magic touch has earned her millions of fans and enthusiastic critical acclaim. And she does it once again in BRAVA, VALENTINE (Harper; On Sale: February 9, 2010; $25.99; Hardcover), the standout sequel to her instant New York Times bestseller Very Valentine, just out in paperback.  This transporting yet realistic tale, the second installment in a trilogy starring the charismatic Valentine Roncalli and a multigenerational cast of supporting characters, finds Trigiani crafting another emotionally stirring and frequently hilarious take on career, family, friendship and love as well as the delicate dance between respecting tradition and moving forward.

 

When the next chapter in Valentine’s story begins, the entire loud, meddling, loyal and fiercely devoted Roncalli clan has gathered in Tuscany for the wedding of the family’s widowed matriarch Teodora Angelini. Although of course Valentine is thrilled for her adored Gram, she has been dreading the day for selfish reasons since she’s about to lose her teacher, roommate, companion and touchstone. Now this former junior partner and apprentice will be the boss at the Angelini Shoe Company, the small business that the family has owned and operated for generations in the same Greenwich Village location.  

Plus, her grandmother’s happily-after-after has Valentine fretting about her own romantic fate.  There is a man she is crazy about, even if he is geographically undesirable: Gianluca, the dashing Italian son of her grandmother’s husband.  Sparks fly whenever they are together but he insists on a mature relationship and he won’t take a backseat to Valentine’s shoes.  The lone holdout in a family full of married people, thirtysomething Valentine has always guarded her heart…but at last, she might be ready to let someone in. 

Teodora has one parting, post-nuptial surprise for Valentine. She has reorganized the company and brought in Valentine’s recently laid-off banker brother Alfred as the new CFO, while Valentine will retain her title as CEO and her control over all creative decisions. After decades of squabbling, can these feuding siblings even coexist in the same tiny office, let alone partner up to expand the brand?

But it’s an important moment for Angelini Shoes so they need to put their differences aside.  Besides continuing with the custom division, Valentine is also launching a line of affordable footwear, the Bella Rosa, which she hopes will take the company to the next level—and already has sparked her profound maturation as an artist. With the economy still in freefall, conditions are not ideal for expansion but Valentine’s former fiancé Bret Fitzpatrick, a private equity hotshot, has been helping her every step of the way. Valentine and Bret have been close ever since their breakup, although with his marriage in trouble, what happens next for them is up in the air.

As Valentine tries to navigate all these changes, the appearance of an old, unfamiliar shoe sketch sends her on a quest to Argentina, where she discovers long-lost relatives, family secrets and the ideal manufacturer to mass produce her first collection. Faced with a sudden abundance of professional and personal opportunities, she can no longer waver and must choose, finally, what and who she wants for her future.  Richly satisfying, BRAVA, VALENTINE will leave readers cheering for its endearingly human heroine—and for her enormously gifted creator, Adriana Trigiani, who outdoes herself with this terrifically enjoyable, beautifully rendered charmer.  

About the Author:

Adriana Trigiani is an award-winning playwright, television writer and documentary filmmaker.  The author of the bestselling Big Stone Gap series and the New York Times bestselling novels Lucia, Lucia, The Queen of the Big Time, Rococo, and, most recently, Very Valentine, she has been published in 33 countries around the world.  Trigiani has written the screenplay for the film version of Big Stone Gap, which she will also direct, and Viola in Reel Life, the first title in her young adult series, debuted in September.  She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

BRAVA, VALENTINE
By Adriana Trigiani

Harper

352 pages/$25.99 Hardcover/On Sale: February 9, 2010 /ISBN: 0-06-125707-9