Product Description

Known and loved around the world for her sweeping Big Stone Gap trilogy and the instant New York Times bestseller Lucia, Lucia, Adriana Trigiani returns to the charm and drama of small-town life with Queens of the Big Time. This heartfelt story of the limits and power of love chronicles the remarkable lives of the Castellucas, an Italian-American family, over the course of three generations.

In the late 1800s, the residents of a small village in the Bari region of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, made a mass migration to the promised land of America. They settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, and re-created their former lives in their new home–down to the very last detail of who lived next door to whom. The village’s annual celebration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel–or “the Big Time,” as the occasion is called by the young women who compete to be the pageant’s Queen–is the centerpiece of Roseto’s colorful old-world tradition.

The industrious Castellucas farm the land outside Roseto. Nella, the middle daughter of five, aspires to a genteel life “in town,” far from the rigors of farm life, which have taken a toll on her mother and forced her father to take extra work in the slate quarries to make ends meet. But Nella’s dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets Renato Lanzara, the son of a prominent Roseto family. Renato is a worldly, handsome, devil-may-care poet who has a way with words that makes him irresistible. Their friendship ignites into a fiery romance that Nella is certain will lead to marriage. But Nella is not alone in her pursuit: every girl in town seems to want Renato. When he disappears without explanation, Nella is left with a shattered heart. Four years later, Renato’s sudden return to Roseto the night before Nella’s wedding to the steadfast Franco Zollerano leaves her and the Castelluca family shaken. For although Renato has chosen a path very different from Nella’s, they are fated to live and work in Roseto, where the past hangs over them like a brewing storm.

An epic of small-town life, etched in glorious detail in the trademark Trigiani style, The Queen of the Big Time is the story of a determined, passionate woman who can never forget her first love.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37397 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-31
• Released on: 2005-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780812967807
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Set in early 20th-century smalltown America, Trigiani's fifth novel (after the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia) tells a heartfelt but clumsy story of strong women enduring the rigors of farm life and the trials of romantic and familial relations. At its worst, the novel is a morass of incomplete story lines, underdeveloped characters and inconsistent tenses. Still, readers who've fallen for Trigiani's hallmark personages—Italian immigrants living the American dream in rural Pennsylvania—in previous books will delight in meeting these new ones. Nella Castelluca has brains and ambition; she hopes to someday become a teacher. Alas, when her father is injured at work, she must quit school and stay home to help on the family farm. Her first dream slips away, but working farm life turns out to be not so bad, and Nella eventually falls for the dreamy poet Renato Lanzara. But when he skips town, dream two is crushed, and Nella faces a tough reality: marry another man, and move on. Easier said than done, of course, and Trigiani spends the rest of the book drawing out the saga. Although the writing never rises above B-level, the novel does paint a thorough picture of Italian-American family life and the deep pain of lost love.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Praise for The Queen of the Big Time:


“Moving and poignant ...Trigiani has again defied categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a women’s novelist. She is an amazing young talent.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch

“A sweet story of growing up, marrying, and dying within the framework of family, love, and community...[The Queen of the Big Time] will make you smile and reminisce about gentler, more civil times in small-town and rural America.”
–The Boston Globe

“Trigiani takes from her own heritage to craft a generous plot-driven novel that’s a breezy page-turner ... ‘Queen’ offers a personal saga of American history and a romance woven together with warmth and good humor.”
–Oregonian

“Full-bodied and elegantly written ... Trigiani builds [The Queen of the Big Time] around an old-fashioned love story ...Pure pleasure.”
–Washington Post Book World

“Deaths lead to births, dreams deferred yield wondrous new visions [in The Queen of the Big Time] ... intensely detailed characters.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Heartfelt ... Readers who have fallen for Trigiani’s hallmark personages ... in previous books will delight in meeting the new ones É [Paints] a thorough picture of Italian-American family life and the deep pain of lost love.”–Publishers Weekly


Praise for Adriana Trigiani and Lucia, Lucia
“Trigiani's writing is as dazzling as Lucia's dresses.”
–USA Today

“Fast-moving, funny, visual, and moving. . . A vibrant, loving, wistful portrait of a lost time and place. Every page is engrossing and begs us to read the next.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Seamles...

Review
Praise for The Queen of the Big Time:


“Moving and poignant ...Trigiani has again defied categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a women’s novelist. She is an amazing young talent.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch

“A sweet story of growing up, marrying, and dying within the framework of family, love, and community...[The Queen of the Big Time] will make you smile and reminisce about gentler, more civil times in small-town and rural America.”
–The Boston Globe

“Trigiani takes from her own heritage to craft a generous plot-driven novel that’s a breezy page-turner ... ‘Queen’ offers a personal saga of American history and a romance woven together with warmth and good humor.”
–Oregonian

“Full-bodied and elegantly written ... Trigiani builds [The Queen of the Big Time] around an old-fashioned love story ...Pure pleasure.”
–Washington Post Book World

“Deaths lead to births, dreams deferred yield wondrous new visions [in The Queen of the Big Time] ... intensely detailed characters.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Heartfelt ... Readers who have fallen for Trigiani’s hallmark personages ... in previous books will delight in meeting the new ones É [Paints] a thorough picture of Italian-American family life and the deep pain of lost love.”–Publishers Weekly


Praise for Adriana Trigiani and Lucia, Lucia
“Trigiani's writing is as dazzling as Lucia's dresses.”
–USA Today

“Fast-moving, funny, visual, and moving. . . A vibrant, loving, wistful portrait of a lost time and place. Every page is engrossing and begs us to read the next.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Seamlessly superb storytelling . . . Trigiana never loses hold of the hearts of her characters–or of the wisdom that tragedy and redemption are also part of life.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“This heartwarming tale is full of lessons about taking risks in life and love.”
–Cosmopolitan

“Compelling...a breezy read.”
–Entertainment Weekly


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

The Queen of the Big Time
Adriana Trigiani returns in her 5th novel, drawing us back to the charms of small town life, a rich Italian heritage and loyalty to family.

In The Queen of the Big Time, Trigiani focuses on her central character Nella, who has dreams of attending college and becoming a teacher. Circumstances happen, however, that force Nella to work in the local blouse factory, destroying her dreams of furthering her education. The sparkle that remains however is her romance with the town heart throb Renato. Unfortunately, things are not to be with Renato and Trigiani takes us down an exciting and meaningful path with a colorful cast of characters and surprising twists and turns.

As in her previous novels, Trigiani brings themes of personal dreams, her love for her Italian roots, love and romance, and deep insights into people of all dimensions. Picking up her novel is like picking up a conversation with an old friend..immediately warm and inviting.

The Best of ALL!
I am not one of those women who reads any book that talks about "love" and swoons for days over how "romantic" it was. I find those thinly-written pulp-romance books tiring in their lack of an original plot. That is why i LOVE Adriana Trigiani! Her novels have just the PERFECT amount of romance, and an even more perfect amount of reality. Her books are gloriously engaging, full of richness and familiarity. They have far more depth than the "romantic" fluff that most of today's books aimed at woman contain.

I have loved each of her books more than the last. Her writing just keep getting better and better, and I am so excited to what she comes out with next. In my opinion, Queen of the Big Time is her best novel yet. I grew so attached to the characters, and cried my eyes out, and loved them so much, that i was torn between finishing the book as fast as i could, or savoring every page to stretch out my time with the Castellucas & Zollanos.

Perfect. Just perfect.

Another winner by Trigiani!
Loved this book ~ so eager for it to come out and I wasn't dissapointed.

Nella's hopes of becoming a teacher go a different way as her help is needed to help support the family. You feel her longing to cultivate her education but understand the need her father has in asking for her to work.

Nella falls deep in love with Renato but their fate is up to the reader to find out. A surprising twist lurks the reader in a different direction and Nella finds herself attracted to another man, Franco.

This is a beautiful sweeping story that was good beginning to end. My only complaint would be that it covered a big chunk of time quickly but was good while it lasted.

I look forward to more books by this author.