The Angelotti family enjoys the success of their restaurants and deli but like every family they have their problems. Laura and Giovanni still think about the son they gave up for adoption twenty years earlier, while their daughter Angelica dreams of becoming a great chef and wants to study French cuisine in Paris. Her parents agree to send her there to keep her away from the bad influence of her cousin Mario but he follows her to Paris. But Mario’s changes of mood and depression upset their love story and Angelica focuses more and more on her career. All the women in the books are described as strong and determined characters, especially Angelica. She is headstrong, she knows what she wants and she goes and gets it. Although at the beginning I thought she was so in love with Mario that she would do anything he wanted, she proved to be her own person who makes her own decisions. Descriptions of those delicious Italian and French dishes made my mouth water and the setting of Paris in the 1960s is very evocative. A brilliant, captivating novel about family, marriage, love and about making it on your own. (NP)
