Brownbag Book Club
Library Director James McCloskey invites the Wilmington University Community to join in a conversation about this work of fiction, by a local author, set in Wilmington in the 1950s. Copies of the book are available through the Bookstore or the Library. Don't forget to bring your lunch!
When: Tuesday, April 17, at 12:00 pm
Where: Peoples Library, Room 122
Book of the Month: The Saint of Lost Things by Christopher Castellani
From Publishers Weekly:
Castellani explores the lives of Italian-American immigrants in this eloquent, leisurely tale about dreams and disappointments, a follow-up to his debut novel, A Kiss from Maddalena. Here, Castellani picks up Maddalena Grasso's story in 1953, when she is seven years settled in Wilmington, Del., but "always crying, always looking backward." She left her beloved Italian village for America, imagining that she and her new husband, Antonio, would live the American dream, but Antonio's ambition of owning a restaurant remains just out of reach, and beautiful Maddalena, once an aspiring actress and model, now sews piecework, pining for the family she left behind. Maddalena befriends Guilio, a lonely, middle-aged accordion player mired in grief since the death of his elderly parents, and they eventually help each other find the courage to move past their own regrets. (She finds hope in a long-awaited pregnancy, though she will face a difficult labor.) By structuring much of the novel in flashback--albeit to reflect Maddalena's mentality--Castellani slows the story's momentum, but the natural, easy beauty of his prose captures the Italian-American immigrant community of a bygone era.
Don't miss author Christopher Castellani's appearance during National Library Week: Thursday, April 19th at 5:30 pm in the ACC Auditorium at Wilmington University! Refreshments will be served, and a book signing will follow Castellani's talk.
