First published 2017
Nicky Castone drives Car #4 for his Uncle Dom's cab company in bustling postwar South Philadelphia. At thirty, he lives the life his Italian-American family expects: steady work, engagement to bookkeeper Peachy DePino, loyalty to the Palazzini clan. But Nicky harbors a secret. He's been acting with a local Shakespeare company, and the stage calls to him more powerfully than his predictable future. When Calla Borelli, who runs the theater troupe after inheriting it from her father, enters his world, Nicky faces an impossible choice. An urgent telegram from Italy disrupts everything, forcing him to decide between family duty and artistic passion. His Uncle Dom feuds bitterly with his brother Mike, splitting their once united families. Business thrives, grandchildren arrive, yet old wounds fester. Nicky must choose whether to honor the conventional path or risk losing everyone he loves for a dream that might destroy him. Set against Shakespeare's comedies, this story moves from Italian mountain villages to Philadelphia's vibrant streets to New York's emerging television industry, exploring the tension between family loyalty and personal fulfillment.
Genres: fiction, drama, family, romance, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, family-duty-vs-personal-fulfillment, found-family
Setting: Italy, New York, Philadelphia, South Philadelphia
Period: Postwar
544 pages · Hardcover · Harper