Adriana Trigiani - Brava, Valentine

Thank you to the world’s best assistant, Kelly Meehan, the fabulous Molly McGuire, and our diligent intern, Allison Van Groesbeck. Jean Morrissey is a crack copy editor and without her, I’d be lost. Jake Morrissey offers endless and free advice, and I hope I’m always smart enough to take it. My love to all my Saint Mary’s sisters around the world with whom I share memories and a lot of laughs.

Ann Godoff, thank you for opening the door to my literary career. Thank you in the UK to the dazzling Amanda Ross of Cactus TV for the Richard and Judy Book Club.

Bravo and grazie mille : Dolores and Dr. Emil Pascarelli, Kate Benton Doughan, Sharon Hall, Adina and Michael Pitt, Cate Magennis Wyatt, Steven Wyatt, Laura Bermudez, Ian Chapman, Suzanne Baboneau, Nigel Stoneman, Mary Ellen Gallagher Gavin, Nelle Fortenberry, Jasmine Guy, Rosalie Posellius, Joe O’Brien, Greg D’Alessandro, Wendy Luck, Ruth Pomerance, Rosanne Cash, Liz Welch Tirrell, Rachel Cohen Desario, Gail Berman, Debra McGuire, Donna Gigliotti, Nancy Bolmeier Fisher, Constance Marks, Catherine Brennan, Antonia Trigiani, Craig Fisse, Todd Doughty, John Searles, Jill Gillet, Kim Hovey, Libby McGuire, Jane Von Mehren, Laura Ford, Debbie Aroff, Meryl Poster, Gayle Perkins Atkins, Christine Krauss and her Sonny, Joanna Patton, Bill Persky, Mario Cantone, Jerry Dixon, Tom Dyja, Carmen Elena Carrion, Cynthia Rutledge Olson, Susan Fales Hill, Wendy Luck, Doug Leibacher, Mary Testa, Sharon Watroba Burns, Barbara and Tom Sullivan, Jim and Mary Hampton, Amanda D’Acierno, Dee Emmerson, Joanne Curley Kerner, Jack Hodgins, Elaine Martinelli, Sally Davies, Sister Karol Jackowski, Sharon Ewing, Beth Hagan, Jane Cline Higgins, Alex Marvar, Brownie and Connie Polly, Veronica Kilcullen, Rosalie Signorello Ciardullo, the fabulous Vechiarelli family (led by Beth Vechiarelli Cooper), Max and Robyn Westler.

Thank you, Tim and Lucia, for making our home the most peaceful place on earth, and when it isn’t-even better.

And now a word about the chapters-the titles are all Frank Sinatra songs recorded when my grandparents were young, and my father younger still. Now that they are gone, I find their music a comfort, and even insightful. I remember stories told about places they went, dreams that came true, and some that didn’t. Whenever my family gathered when I was small, I remember the music, and those great Italian boys who delivered it with gusto, whether it was Perry Como, Louis Prima, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Jerry Vale, Al Martino, or the Chairman of the Board himself. Sometimes I wish I could go back and stand next to the record player with the gold mesh sides and the brown leather top as they sang…and swang, but alas, those moments are gone. So this is my way of remembering.

ADRIANA TRIGIANIis an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. The author of the bestselling Big Stone Gap series and the bestselling novels Very Valentine, Lucia, Lucia, The Queen of the Big Time, and Rococo , she has also written and will direct the big-screen version of her first novel, Big Stone Gap. Viola in Reel Life, the first novel in her new a young adult series debuted in September 2009. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.