Stay With Me, Lella
Johnny and Carla DiGiacomo are the hub of a big, extended, in many ways, conventional Italian American family. But a less than conventional choice made early in their marriage-to take in the orphaned daughter of distant relations-will test their notions of love and loyalty, as well as the sexual boundaries within which families exist. As Johnny says, "Ah, Lellie. Sometimes it’s confusing." Told with earthy humor, Stay With Me, Lella is about the arrangements and rearrangements Italian Americans coped with after World War II, as they began to make their way into the mainstream; about secrets; and about sacred ghetto family mores clashing with those of an explosive younger generation in the rapidly changing world of the late sixties.
Formats: Paperback / Audio
ISBN: 155071076
Reviews
"I haven’t seen another writer capture with more accuracy the way sex cemented certain…marriages of the old school. A small classic."
— Anthony Giardina in VIA
"This is a finely-crafted novel with much to say about lust, love and blood that binds us."
— Matthew Firth in Front & Center MAGAZINE
"Blood, sex and betrayal…a short but passionate and compelling tale of family politics."
— Alessio Nuvolari in Tandem
"…well told and engaging…I came out of it feeling like the DiGiacomos could be my own crazy, complicated, and wonderful family."
— Rachel Barenblat in The Women’s Times
"Stay With Me, Lella is among one of the most forceful pieces of fiction written by an Italian American writer in a decade."
— Kenneth Scambray in MELUS