Adriana Trigiani’s latest novel, THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO, has two main attractions: Giuseppina Baratta, a young woman who has believed forever that she could be happy if she made others happy, and the beautiful marble mountains of Italy. The Baratta family comes from the village where Michaelangelo chose the slabs of marble for his sculptures.

Both Giuseppina (or Jess, as she is known because her older brother could not say Giuseppina) and the gorgeous slabs of marble gradually will come into focus. A bonus is that there are two views from a Lake Como: the original in Lombardy, Northern Italy, and another in New Jersey. Jess will appreciate both of them and understand the differences.

Jess is the third child of a caring but volatile mother and a careless-with-the-money father. They and their extended families live in an Italian neighborhood where la famiglia è tutto (family is everything). Jess’ childhood is filled with her grandmother’s stories of growing up far away in Carrara, Italy, and learning at her grandmother’s table how to cook Sunday gravy, recreate Aunt Lil’s zeppole, and keep the peace among the many relatives.

"Trigiani explores many contemporary issues in THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO. It is welcome to have the context of today’s time frame placed upon this age-old quest of knowing oneself."

Uncle Louie is her mother’s only brother; he has no children of his own and becomes a mentor and protector for Jess. They work together at the family marble business, importing the granite and creating the fixtures for wealthy homes in parts of New Jersey. She believes everything to be true and honorable about Louie --- his work ethic, his eye for the pieces of marble, and his loyalty to family --- so his unexpected death devastates her.

Jess had begun taking online Thera-Me sessions and, upon the advice of her counselors, started writing to express her feelings. These entries, whether prompted by a moment of surprise, realization or joy, continue to reveal many of the details of her childhood throughout the novel. Louie sometimes commented on her attachment to her phone, but as she was writing, she was coming to understand herself. Always the doer, she describes the symphony of sauces she made from fresh tomato base crushed with sweet butter and tender basil. She remembers baking Christmas coconut balls, forming the S cookies and icing cutouts, and then delivering them up and down the street. She wonders who will follow the traditions without her.

Jess has lived in the basement of the house where she grew up after her divorce from her Italian childhood sweetheart two years earlier. It is here where she learns that Louie has made her the sole owner of the Capodimonte Marble Company. She and Louie had planned a trip to Italy to see the marbles for their business, and she decides she must go solo. Her mother is angry and confused about this show of independence, and Jess feels she is about to be sent to the Island, an imaginary place of punishment cutting off communication with her mother. However, the discovery of a hurtful family secret years earlier provides the needed gumption to go.

Jess arrives in Milan and is enamored immediately. The village of Carrara is tucked into the Apuan Alps, just as her grandmother described it. The fading light illuminates the amber, mustard and coral-painted stucco facades of the buildings in the village, and she pauses the trip long enough to explain the smell of rain on stone (petrichor). Louie liked to watch when the stonemasons cut marble because they would douse it with water, yielding the same scent. He would say that it reminded him of Carrara, and Jess wishes he could be there once again.

The days, weeks and months of life in Italy give Jess a fresh perspective and confidence. Along with the differences, of course, she discovers many connections between the two Lake Comos. There is also one huge surprise. She stumbles upon the situation, understands it, and realizes that unraveling that mystery makes her decisions about staying in Italy or returning to New Jersey even more complicated.

Trigiani explores many contemporary issues in THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO. It is welcome to have the context of today’s time frame placed upon this age-old quest of knowing oneself. Jess has to come to terms with herself before she can come to terms with the mysteries and surprises of the past. She must learn how to carve out a place in her own life.