Sometimes it bothers me to return to quickly to the same characters and at other times I can't wait to find out what happens in their lives. "Brava Valentine" is one of the ones I couldn't wait to read. Valentine Roncalli is probably one of the most true-to-life literary characters that I have encountered. She is driven yet vulnerable, uncertain and confident at the same time. She loves her family deeply, yet doesn't always like them. In her mid-thrities, she has yet to discover what she really wants out of life. Her career path is certain: she is a cobbler, a creator of custom wedding shoes, the carrier of the family torch. Her personal life, however, is in chaos as she is torn between two countries and just beginning to consider her biological clock. She is the unwilling keeper of secrets and the solver of past mysteries.
Trigiani has a knack for mixing humor with pathos, joy with sorrow. The Angelini/Roncalli family is SO typical, yet so unique, laced with humor, stress, marital angst, and money worries. They have evolved and become more human since the first installment in Valentine's story and I like them even more now. Adriana Trigiani excels at writing about love among family members, friends, lovers, and generations linked and unlinked by decisions of the past. She also provides detailed glimpses into the world of fine shoe manufacturing that are fascinating enough to make me want to know more about the whole process. I can recommend this novel on so many levels, so I will. Read it, but read Very Valentine first, if you haven't yet.
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