Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

Very rarely does a person come across a novel that touches them deep inside their heart. Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani is a beautifully written piece of literature that captures the essence of an era long past. The novel is narrated by a young woman, Kit Zanetti, a struggling playwright who lives on Commerce Street in Greenwich Village in New York City. She has many neighbors in her building, including Lucia Sartori, a sophisticated woman in her late seventies who is the novel's heroine. Kit and Lucia become good friends, and Lucia tells Kit about life in the early 1950s, where “girls wore gloves and men worked in the family business, and everybody was happy”. After that afternoon, the two of them form a strong friendship that ultimately will change both of their lives.

Although the novel starts out with Kit Zanetti as the narrator, as Lucia starts to tell Kit her story, the voice of the narrator switches to Lucia. This is one of those exceptional novels that make the reader wish to experience life in another era. After I finished it I was filled with a sense of longing, as well as a feeling that I was born in the wrong era. This novel will appeal to those who love to read stories that leave the reader with a sense of nostalgia. I would compare Adriana Trigiani's writing style and subject choice to that of Elizabeth Berg. All in all, this is a book full of memorable characters and thought-provoking plotlines that is well worth reading time and time again.