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The courage and the passion of the millions of working-classEuropeans who came to America for better lives a century ago isstill mind-boggling to those of us who have been standing on theirshoulders all these years. Would we have the chutzpah to uproot our lives, turn our backs onour own country and move to China or India for the promise of abetter life? "What guts they had," novelist Adriana Trigiani said of her own Italian ancestors, whose journey to America powersher new novel, "The Shoemaker's Wife" (Harper, $26.99). "Then, after they got here, trying in their little enclave not tooffend and to hold on to who they are," the writer added, in arecent phone interview from her Greenwich Village home. "The Shoemaker's Wife" is Trigiani's first real epic, a 500-pagetale of Ciro Lazzari and Enza Ravanelli , who journey from their small Italian Alps village to New YorkCity (and Hoboken, N.J.) in the years just before World War I. Ciro and Enza meet briefly as children in Italy, but life separatesthem for years as they struggle to make it in their new homeland. Ciro becomes an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy andEnza's work as a seamstress eventually takes her to the costumedepartment at the Metropolitan Opera , where she is befriended by one of the secular saints of theItalian-American community -- the great tenor Enrico Caruso . The protagonists meet accidentally after they arrive in America,part and then meet again, just as Ciro is about to be shipped outto the trenches of France in World War I. Military service was thefastest way for immigrants to become U.S. citizens. Readers of this sweeping, romantic story won't be surprised tolearn that the book was partially inspired by Trigiani's love ofthe epic novels written by Edna Ferber more than 50 years ago. The author has been researching a playabout Ferber. "The Shoemaker's Wife" is Trigiani's 10th novel, and a majordeparture from her more tightly structured best-sellers "Brava,Valentine" and "Big Stone Gap." "I've written a lot of books. Why is this one hitting a nerve?,"she asked, rhetorically. "It is outselling (the other books) andthe word of mouth has been great. I've never had this experiencebefore. I've certainly had best-sellers, but this is a wholedifferent animal. Can I tell you I'm thrilled?" In an age of supposed shrinking attention spans, and so muchcompetition for our leisure time, Trigiani believes the power of abig, decade-spanning story is just as strong now as it was inFerber's time. "I've been going all over the place," she said of the national booktour that is bringing her to Fairfield University on Thursday, May 24. "People are hungry for substance. We needbooks that are not sound bites." Trigiani recalled tuning in to "The View" a few weeks ago becauseshe knew Joy Behar was going to recommend "The Shoemaker's Wife" as one of her"summer reads." During that same episode, she was horrified to hearreality TV show star Bethenny Frankel chatting about the creationof her debut novel, "Skinnydipping." "She said she wrote the story on her Blackberry betweenappointments ... Inside I crumpled. The thing I labor over she doeson her Blackberry," Trigiani said, with a mordant chuckle. "The Shoemaker's Wife" is the end product of many years ofthinking, research and family history investigation by thenovelist, in between working on her smaller novels. The immediate,wide-spread emotional response to the book and Trigiani'swell-earned pride in her accomplishment is marking the start of awhole new phase of her career, she said. "I don't think I could ever go back. The epic, with all of thedifferent voices, is what I will be doing. I have four big ideasI'm working on, each one with a personal tie to it. I think thisbook has changed me and changed my working life," she said. Adriana Trigiani will do a reading and signing on Thursday, May 24,at 6:30 p.m. at the Quick Center for the Arts on the Fairfield University campus, 1073 North Benson Road,Fairfield. The event is a benefit for Operation Hope of CT withtickets priced at $75 and $100. Call 203-254-4010 or visit . 203-330-6332; twitter.com/joesview blog.ctnews.com/meyers. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Double Deep Racking Manufacturer , Carton Flow Racking, and more. For more , please visit Medium Duty Racks today!
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