The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany(112)
First and foremost, I give humble and hearty thanks to my dear friend Dieter “Dieto” Kretzschmar, the inspiration for Erich. Dieto, thank you for reaching out to me, a novelist thousands of miles from your home in Germany, and trusting me with your bittersweet memories. Though your life story is merely touched upon in this novel, your strength and resilience in times of adversity, your golden heart, and your good humor shone through during the entire writing process.
Aunt Poppy must have given me a lucky penny, because I’ve had the tremendous good fortune of being represented by my dream agent, Jenny Bent, along with her fabulous team of international agents. To each of you, I offer my sincere gratitude.
I’m over the moon to be working with the fantastic team at Berkley, led by the esteemed Claire Zion and my brilliant editor, Sarah Blumenstock. Your attention to detail, your patience and expertise, have created a far richer story. Additionally, I give a world of thanks to my ambitious and dedicated sales and marketing teams championed by Jeanne-Marie Hudson, Craig Burke, Jessica Mangicaro, and Tara O’Connor.
Grazie mille to my dear friends Joe and Elaine Natoli, for regaling me with tales of their Bensonhurst neighborhood and helping capture the essence of a big Italian American family. A million thanks to my wonderful friend and walking partner Vickie Moerman, for snapping and sending photos from Italy. Your eloquent descriptions helped bring Italy back to life in my mind’s eye.
I give a huge shout-out to my invaluable cast of supportive friends during the penning of this novel, especially Linda Zylstra, Kathy O’Neil, Julie Lawson Timmer, Kelly O’Connor McNees, Kathryn Sue Moore, David Strickland, and my sister Natalie Kiefer. As always, I pay homage to my early reader and fellow writer, the brilliant, hilarious, and endlessly encouraging Amy Bailey Olle. And to the generous authors who graciously gave their time to read and share their thoughts about this novel, you have my everlasting gratitude.
To my lovely reader friends, book bloggers, and booksellers, I am grateful and honored to have been welcomed so warmly into your hearts and onto your bookshelves. Thank you for embracing my novels, for sharing them with others, for reaching out to me with your thoughts. There is no greater joy for me as a writer than knowing that my story has touched another person’s emotions.
To my wonderful parents and family, to God and my angels—I am humbled by your love. And finally, I thank my dear husband Bill. Without you, there would be no story.
READERS GUIDE
Questions for Discussion
1. When she first steps foot on Italian soil, Poppy cries, “Hiraeth!”: a Welsh word conveying a deep longing for home, a nostalgia—a yearning—for the place that calls to your soul. Do you understand this feeling? Have you ever been to a place that feels inexplicably familiar or eerily unsettling? How do you explain it?
2. In chapter two, Emilia calls Bensonhurst home. When she returns from Italy, her perspective has changed. Have you ever felt trapped by a place you once loved? In what ways does travel change us? Are you more closely aligned with Poppy, an adventurous spirit who’s always in search of something, or the earlier version of Lucy, someone seemingly content in her small but predictable world?
3. Poppy claims that life is much more interesting when you learn to say, “It’s possible.” How likely are you to embrace the “it’s possible” philosophy? Can you think of a time when you assumed something was impossible or out of your reach? What might have happened had you said, “It’s possible”? In your experience, do you have more regret for things you did, or for things you didn’t do?
4. Throughout Lucy’s life, her mother tried to mold Lucy into the woman who would eventually break the curse. Do you think her mom had Lucy’s best interest in mind, or do you think she was acting selfishly? Could both be true? How did her mother’s expectations affect Lucy?
5. Lucy’s desperation for love is apparent early in the novel. Later, she falls in love with Sofia. Was Lucy aware of her homosexuality prior to meeting Sofia? Was her mother? How might her life have been different had she acknowledged her sexuality at an early age? Would she have felt the same desperation to fall in love?
6. Poppy claimed the curse was a self-fulfilling prophecy. In what ways was she correct? Have you ever fallen prey to expectations, whether familial, peer, or societal? How did you rise above them?
7. In what ways did the New Year’s Eve car accident change Emilia’s life? Without this twist of fate, do you think she would have found love, perhaps with Liam, and broken the curse? How might the family dynamics have been different had Emilia broken the curse?
8. Even after a heinous betrayal, Poppy still loved her sister. Should love for a sibling be unconditional? Poppy believes she put her sister into a horrible position, having to choose between her husband and her sister. Do you agree? Could you be as forgiving as Poppy? In the end, who was most hurt by the lie, Poppy or Rosa?
9. Rosa was once a loving sister. She experienced many life changes between her childhood in Trespiano and her adult life in Brooklyn. Who or what do you believe is most responsible for her bitterness? Do you feel any empathy for Rosa?
10. Daria admits that she resented Emilia for squandering her freedom. She implies that marriage and motherhood steal this freedom from women. Do you agree? Why or why not? If you had complete autonomy, what might your life be like today?
11. Emilia says, “Young girls often dream of a white dress and a diamond ring. I suppose I had that dream, too, when I was younger. But I’m over it now.” What if, as a young girl, you were told with certainty that you would never find love? How might you be different today? Would you look physically different? What articles of clothing would you banish from your closet? Is it likely you’d have more confidence, or less? Would you have the same friends, or different ones? Might you have lived more authentically, or less authentically? In what ways might your life be happier? In what ways might it be less fulfilling?