2016 Chanticleer Media’s Chatelaine Book Awards FinalistBeautiful, headstrong Marcella Scimenti has the affection of a handsome neighborhood boy, the love of her large Italian family, and serious dreams of singing in Hollywood. But the course of true love—nor the journey to finding one’s true self—never did run smooth. In America follows the story of Marcella, the daughter of the characters at … of the characters at the center of Nina Romano’s continent-spanning Wayfarer Trilogy, as she comes of age in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, in the late 1920s. In the trilogy’s heartwarming conclusion, Marcella must learn to balance new friendships, promising suitors, and life as a modern working girl with the expectations of her tradition-bound family, all against the backdrop of a looming economic depression and a changing world. Along the way, she unearths a devastating family secret that shakes her to her core and tests the boundaries of her love, loyalty, and faith.
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Magnificent series!
It’s official! Ms. Romano is on my list of favorite authors! I wasn’t sure how she could make this book compete with the first two in this trilogy but she did it, in spades!
It’s amazing the places she takes you, the feelings you feel, the foods you explore, and the sights you see just with her words!
This series has everything you need to keep you turning the pages and developing a relationship with the characters that will stay with you long after you’ve finished the last page!
I am so looking forward to her other books!
Just phenomenal!
In America is the third and final book in author Nina Romano’s Wayfarer Trilogy. This story is set in the early 1920’s in Brooklyn N.Y. and is told from Giacamo and Marcella’s perspective. Marcella is Angelica & Giacamo’s daughter from the previous book “Lemon Blossoms”.
This story like the two previous stories is beautifully written, rich in detail with family, culture and food. It’s the story of Marcella trying to find her way as a young woman in the early 1920’s. It’s also about family and all that goes with it, the ups and downs of life. It’s a wonderful view of life as an Italian immigrant in America, trying to raise a family during the depression. There’s also a surprise for Giacamo and his family that will bring this series full circle.
I’ve said this in a previous review but it bears repeating, this series could easily be made into a movie. Ms. Romano’s writing draws you in and just doesn’t let you go. I feel as if I was a part of this family and am struggling to leave it. What a fantastic book and series, from an extremely talented author. I truly loved this series and would highly recommend it!
I have now read all three books in the Wayfarer Trilogy, and from the end of the third book, “In America,” I can see the full arc of what the author envisioned when she set out to tell a saga that spans several decades and three entirely different worlds. While the focus of each book rests on a different heroine—Lian, Angelica, Marcella—each plays a crucial role in the life and times of Giacomo Scimenti, the wayfarer.
In Marcella, we meet a teenager verging on adulthood who has so much self-confidence and ambition, she drives her family and friends to distraction. While she can get on their nerves at times, it’s refreshing to see someone so young ready to grab life by the tail and shake every bit of happiness from it, the happiness she feels is her birthright.
Despite her willfulness—or maybe because of it—Marcella glides easily through her life as she grooms herself for Hollywood, where she’s sure she’ll be the star of screen and stage. But even those with predetermined destiny hit bumps in the road, and the real joy of this book is watching as Marcella sails over them determination and gusto.
Along the way, we learn how everything ties back to Giacomo and how perfectly it all dovetails into a story rich in history, trauma, grief, love, and ultimately, the full circle of a predestined life.