The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

February 15, 2020
For generations, the second-born daughters of the Fontana family have been cursed with loveless lives. Can Emilia and her cousin Lucy finally break the spell? Enraged that her beautiful younger sister might have beguiled her boyfriend, Filomena Fontana cast the curse long ago. Since then, family lore has held that every second-born daughter is doomed. Two hundred years later, Emilia and her older sister, Daria, scoffed. That is, until 7-year-old Emilia had to make a family tree for her social studies class and noticed the inescapable truth: There were no marriages among the second daughters. Even her free-spirited cousin Lucy, herself a second daughter, can't manage to keep a boyfriend past the fourth date. Now pushing 30 and still single, Emilia's resigned to her fate of working in the family bakery and living in her tiny third-floor apartment in the family home in Bensonhurst, aka Brooklyn's Little Italy. Her Nonna Rose rules the roost with an iron first, watching Emilia's every move and even banning her from communicating with her mysterious Great Aunt Poppy, herself a second daughter and the only relative willing to talk about Emilia's late mother. But when Poppy sends Emilia and Lucy an invitation for an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy--and promises that she can break the curse--how can Emilia refuse? Nonna might be furious, but the possibility of learning more about her own mother makes up Emilia's mind for her. Once in Italy, Emilia and Lucy discover the truth about not only the curse, but also themselves, not to mention Poppy's own secrets. Spielman (Sweet Forgiveness, 2015, etc.) deftly spins Emilia's story, layering in the backstory of how Poppy and Rose immigrated to America, with Rose following her husband, Alfonso, but Poppy losing the love of her life. Or did she? Along the way, Spielman twists our fairy-tale expectations about love, curses, and happy endings. A bright, funny, hopeful tale of untangling family knots.

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February 17, 2020
In Spielman’s sparkling follow-up to Sweet Forgiveness, two second-born daughters hope to break a curse that has been in their family for generations. Twenty-nine-year-old Emelia Antonelli works in her grandmother’s Brooklyn bakery and is happily single, or so she tells herself. After her great aunt Poppy, also a second-born daughter, invites Emelia and her cousin Lucy to join her on an eight-day, all expenses paid trip to Italy, Poppy claims that on her upcoming 80th birthday she will meet the love of her life, Rico, on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral, breaking the Fontana Second Daughter Curse, which dooms all second-born daughters to a life without love, once and for all. Emelia isn’t sure she believes in the curse, but she’s ready for adventure, and soon she and Lucy (also a second-born daughter) are off to Tuscany. Emelia’s narrative intertwines with Poppy and Rico’s achingly romantic story, and the vibrant Poppy inspires Emelia and Lucy to open their hearts to the possibilities of love and a life fully lived. Spielman brings Tuscany to vivid life and offers more than a few surprises along the way. Fans of An Affair to Remember, Under the Tuscan Sun, and the like will be enthralled.

March 1, 2020
Fontana family legend has it that second-born daughters are cursed never to find lasting love. Emilia Fontana, a second daughter, does not believe in the curse, but even if she did, she is fine with a life without love, preferring nights of Netflix to "Netflix and chill." One day, Emilia's estranged Aunt Poppy invites her on an all-expenses paid trip to Italy. At first, because of her loyalty to her grandmother, Emilia refuses the offer. But Aunt Poppy is persistent and tells Emilia and her cousin Lucy, another second-born daughter, that if they go with her the curse will be broken. Eventually, Emilia relents and goes off on the adventure of a lifetime. Spielman (Sweet Forgiveness, 2015) alternates points of view between Emilia in the present and Poppy in 1959, telling a pleasant story of three women breaking free of expectations to live their own lives to the fullest. Some light romance rounds out the robust descriptions of Italian food and scenery. Readers who enjoy dual narratives and women's fiction will enjoy this novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)