A transfusion of Italian blood? A religious experience? Whatever it was, it works! She takes an unexpected, but totally endearing, turn from her normal writing to bring us this tale of transplanted Yankees who bring their traditions south with them.
Big Al and Connie leave New Jersey for retirement in Hilton Head. They lure their unmarried daughter Grace to join them by dangling a lovely carriage house in Charleston under her nose. Though Grace is basically ashamed of her parents and can't quite appreciate the warm and fuzzy family gatherings, she gladly accepts the house. Of course, her parents didn't expect her to live in sin with Michael, a character they consider on the fast track to hell due to his work in stem cell research. Michael is warm, Michael is brilliant, and before long Michael is diagnosed with brain cancer.
The book is filled with a lot of stereotypical Italian things which as a granddaughter of Italian immigrants I found misleading and atypical. However, the characters are what they are and I enjoyed sharing Thanksgiving, Christmas and Big Al's Birthday in their chaotic household. Sometimes, I wanted to shake Grace and make her less ashamed of her father or more accepting of her future sister-in-law, but on the whole I found this an interesting family to spend time with. The author hasn't lost her knack for utilizing local color. Because Grace is a travel agent, Ms. Frank is able to expand her descriptive abilities to include Sardinia as well as Mexico City. I had some problems with the too pat resolution of the story's major conflict, but hey . . . God works in mysterious ways.
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