In The Supreme Macaroni Company, Adriana Trigiani transports readers from the cobblestone streets of Greenwich Village to lush New Orleans to Italy and back again while exploring the tricky dynamics between Old World craftsmanship and New World ambition, all amid a passionate love affair that fuels one woman's determination to have it all.
For over a hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This ancient business partnership provides the twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the schoolteacher turned shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret.
But after the wedding celebrations are over, Valentine wakes up to the hard reality of juggling the demands of a new business and the needs of her new family. Confronted with painful choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: "A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything." Now the proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves—the bitter and the sweet of life itself.
Romantic and poignant, told with humor and warmth, and bursting with a cast of endearing characters, The Supreme Macaroni Company is a sumptuous feast of delights: an unforgettable narrative about family, work, romance, and the unexpected turns of life and fate.
Review: I'm a massive fan of this author's writing and so I don't know why it took me so long to get round to reading the third in Trigiani's Valentine series. I love Valentine as a character and she is as feisty as ever in this latest instalment. Valentine is an independent woman who knows what she wants. She is loyal to the family business and will do everything in her power to make that succeed, values which i have loved to read about. However, things are really called into question in this novel and so her character is challenged and she really has tro come into her own to cope with events as they take place throughout the book.
The other characters in the series are wonderful as well and i hear all their Italian American, and just plain Italian, accents in my head as i read because this author makes the characters come to life so successfulkly! Valentine's mother is a fore to be reckoned with and she turns into the one supporting her daughter in this novel which was a real delight to see and something which has very much been the other way around in previous novels,. I love the relationship between Valentine and her father and for me, it totally trumps the relationship that Valentine has with her husband, Gianlucca. Gianlucca is definitely a book boyfreind for me, i love the sound of the older gentleman who will do everything he can to care for Valentine and thwart everyutng that life throws at them. For me he is perhaps a little too old fashioned in his values but he has the most gorgeous Italian house so who am I to argue?
The setting, yes. This book again is split between Italy and the US. The American part of the book predominantly features New York which is one of my favourite settings for a novel. I love the descripiopn of Greenwich Village and the hustle and bustle of the city. The Hudson river is almost like another character in the book-wonderful! The descriptions of Italy rival those of New York strongly though and so i defy anyone not to envy Valentine's life as the book goes on!
The descriptions of the food and the shoes in these books are just as good as the descriptions of the settings so a warning-this book will make you hungry! This book takes place over a couple of Christmases as well so double the trouble when it comes to the food description! Overall this was a wonderful book and a real comfort read. My only issue that I have is one of the events towards the end of the book.. For me it was a good twist in the tail but I really didn't see it coming and I didn't want it to happenbut that's really the only part i disliked. I don't want to give anything away though. This book is heartwarming, funny and full of delicious description-a great read!
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