"In Rosanna Chiofalo s touching novel, a unique pastry shop features mouthwatering creations that have the power to change one woman s life
" Food writer Claudia Lombardo has sampled exquisite dishes by the world s greatest chefs. But when she hears about the remarkable desserts that are created in a pastry shop operated out of a convent in the sleepy Italian hillside town of Santa Lucia del Mela, she wants to write a book featuring the sweets and the story behind their creator Sorella Agata. But the convent s most famous dessert a cassata cake is what really intrigues Claudia....

From Rosanna Chiofalo comes a sumptuous novel that sweeps readers from the Italian-American enclave of Astoria, New York, to the stunning vistas of Rome, and introduces two very different women--in a story of friendship, love, and destiny. . .
In college, Pia Santore dreamed of going to New York and taking the Big Apple by storm with her younger sister Erica. Instead, Pia has arrived in Astoria, Queens, with a prestigious journalism internship at a celebrity magazine. . .and without Erica. Though the neighborhood has an abundance of appeal--including the delectable confections sold at her...

Rosanna Chiofalo's poignant, beautifully written novel evokes the stunning scenery of Sicily and the Aeolian Islands and tells of mothers and daughters, love and sacrifice--and the choices that resound across continents and through generations.
Julia Parlatone doesn't have much to remember her Italian mother by. A grapevine that Sarina planted still flourishes in the backyard of Julia's childhood home in Astoria, Queens. And there's a song, "Stella Mia," she recalls her mother singing--my star, my star, you are the most beautiful star--until the day she left three-year-old Julia behind...