Author: Elizabeth Wellington Rollins
Year published: 2026
Category: Adult fiction
Pages: 413
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2026 Google Reading map): New York, New Jersey
Summary: Graziella, a ninety-six-year-old former nun, spends her days running the parish’s food kitchen, convinced it is her responsibility to keep everyone fed in their working-class New York neighborhood. Her daughter, Grace, a respected psychology professor, appears accomplished and composed, yet finds herself unmoored as her personal life falters. Ella—Graziella’s granddaughter and Grace’s daughter—is weary of defending her vegan diet and anti-capitalistic lifestyle; blind to her own brilliance, she longs, above all, for a place to belong. Living together again, the three Graces reckon with the distances that have shaped them, and with what it means, at last, to be fully known.
Review: It took me a while to get into this novel (new puppy? good series on TV? Both?) but once I was in, I was in and I really liked it. I even cried at the end.
There is a plot to this book, but really it's a study of the three Graces (Graziella, Grace, and Ella), three generations of an Italian-American family and their relationships with one another. They fight, they love each other, they irritate each other, and they support one another.
I loved Graziella, the grandmother. She reminded me a bit of the older mom in Golden Girls. She's feisty, outspoken, no nonsense, always knows what's going on, tough to love, but supports everyone.
Grace is a bit more difficult to like, but in the end I did. She's caught between the other two strong personalities, and trying to keep it all together while going through a divorce. I like that she figures out who she is in the end.
Ella is a mess. Brilliant and misguided, she feels she doesn't really deserve anything or anyone. She comes to not only figure out that she's ok in the end, but she learns to appreciate her mother and grandmother for what they can teach her and what they bring to the world.
It isn't all sappiness and happiness, which is also good. There are fun, sad, hurtful, and interesting twists and turns that feel real.
Challenges for which this counts:
- 20 Books of Summer
- Big Book Summer
- Literary Escapes--New Jersey
No comments
Post a Comment