Jess is recently divorced and has moved into the basement of her overbearing Italian-American parents' house, lamenting her inability to do anything in life that really inspires passion. She's a talented draftsperson for her uncle's marble business and just after he invites her on a trip to visit the source of the company's marble in Italy, he dies, leaving her with an open-ended plane ticket, a new business in her name, and a whole pile of trouble in the form of long-buried family secrets and a second set of account books for the business. While she agrees to work with the feds on sorting out her uncle's crimes, Jess is allowed to leave for Italy, where she does whatever she can to figure out who she really is.
This was my first Trigiani novel, and I wasn't really expecting the high level of New Jersey/Italian American stereotypes — it was a bit overbearing in the first section of the book. However, once Jess made it to Italy, the idyllic village and slower pace of life was particularly soothing. It wasn't my favorite book, and it definitely leaned a little too hard on romantic comedy/woman on a journey of self-discovery tropes, but I'm glad I read it. It's a good escape.
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