Lucia Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

Set in the glittering, vibrant New York City of 1950, Lucia, Lucia is the enthralling story of a passionate, determined young woman whose decision to follow her heart changes her life forever.

Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman's department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams, Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the Sartoris' honor is tested.

I just finished it last night and what a nice, warm story it was. When we first know Lucia she is an old lady already and having invited her young neighbour Kit for tea she eventually tells her the story of when she was 25 and a career woman in the 1950s.

I did like Lucia's family with all their italian traditions and their devotion to family and friends. They did have some loud discussions about what was or not proper and about what some of their members should do but they were supportive of each and were always there to help when needed.

Women still had a very traditional, and not equal, treatment and Lucia is determined to avoid the common destiny of becoming a wife and a mother and giving up her work. She wants to keep working and she loves what she does. I thought the Talbot storyline was a bit weak, I could understand how she might be attracted to him as he seemed to promise her the life she wanted but after what happened shouldn't she have realised it was an illusion? It takes her all those years and a trip to Sing Sing to realise that...

In the end it was a very entertaining story, sometimes happy sometimes sad, and ideal to spend an afternoon with...

Grade: B