Lucia, Lucia, Adriana Trigiani

Vogue, 1953

(April 30)This book is the poster-child for the concept of a "light" read -- it's pleasant and engaging, it's a bit of a chick-lit book but not in the formulaic, insulting sense, it's a good story. Angela recommended it to me as light and fun, and after two books about horrible people, it seemed it might be a good palate cleanser.

And so it was! Trigiani very skillfully brings to life the experience of living in New York in the early 1950s as a first-generation Italian. She lovingly recreates the clothes, the home decor, the food, the ambiance of New York, the trends and preoccupations of post-war America, and not in a cataloguey way, but as the natural backdrop and props appropriate to a young woman's story of making her way in the world. A lot of the drama and suspense of the book relates to Lucia's love life, although the story isn't a romance per se, and Lucia is a bit of a feminist, though not in a way that makes it an anachronism. All very satisfying.