Very Valentine
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4.7 • 7 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick
One unforgettable woman. One heart and dream as big as New York City.
Makers of custom wedding shoes since 1903, the Angelini Shoe Company is one of the last family businesses in Greenwich Village. Now on the brink of financial ruin, thirty-three year old Valentine Roncalli, the talented apprentice, and her grandmother Teodora, the master artisan, are trying to bring the family’s old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century.
Juggling a romantic relationship with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family and a design competition for a prestigious department store, Valentine accompanies her grandmother to Italy in the hope of finding inspiration. Sweeping from the streets of Manhattan to picturesque Tuscany and the Isle of Capri, she discovers her artistic voice and so much more, turning her life around in ways she never expected.
‘Charming, charismatic and addictive… an absolute treat’ Company
‘A funny, heart-warming tale of a woman looking for love, family harmony and the perfect shoe’ Heat
‘Load up on cappuccino and biscotti before getting lost in the super froth of Adriana Trigiani's romance-soaked novel, Very Valentine’ Marie Claire
‘This hymn to Italian New York is a treat’ Elle
‘Sex and the City meets Moonstruck... sly, sensual and dripping in style’ People
‘Like tucking into a plate of homemade manicotti: irresistible and delicious’ BookPage
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This first-in-a-trilogy is a frilly valentine to Manhattan's picturesque West Village, starring a boisterous and charmingly contentious Italian-American family. Valentine Roncalli, adrift after a failed relationship and an aborted teaching career, becomes an apprentice to her 80-year-old grandmother, Teodora Angelini, at the tiny family shoe business. While Valentine struggles to come up with a financial plan and shoe design to bring the Old World operation into the 21st century, her brother, Alfred, is pushing Gram to retire and sell her building for $6 million. It's not all business for Valentine, of course: handsome and sophisticated Roman Falconi, owner and chef at a posh restaurant, is vying for her heart. Bestselling Trigiani channels ambition and girl-power, but is surprisingly reserved and retro when it comes to romance: "ur relationship has to build slowly and beautifully in order to hold all the joy and misery that lies ahead," thinks Valentine. Still, this genteel and lush tale of soles and souls has loads of charm and will leave readers eager for the sequel.
