Thieves Never Steal in the Rain
Grappling with her daughter’s fatal accident, Joanna finds solace in the conviction that her daughter lives on in the body of another child. But how will this affect her already crumbling marriage, her career, and her relationship with her father? Nancy’s decision to lose a kidney in order to save her husband’s life jeopardizes her last chance for motherhood. All that Barbara possesses and identifies with including companionship with a ghost-vanishes overnight. Angie takes a drastic measure to lose weight in order to regain her confidence and self esteem. Rosemary, a renowned "agony aunt," falls apart when her husband leaves her, only to find comfort in the strangest of strangers.
Love and the supernatural drive these stories about the intertwining lives of five female cousins, who learn that loss-from misplacing keys to confronting death-is a constant force to be reckoned with.
Format: Paperback / eBook
ISBN: 9781771830508
reviews
"…Written by one of the most talented contemporary female Italian-American authors…Even though this is not overtly a book about ethnic identity, it is magically all about it…Thieves Never Steal in the Rain steals our hearts and thoughts, leaving us with a craving, to be showered with more of her stories soon."
— Theodora Patrona in VIA Vol.27, No. 2, 2016
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"Labozzetta is a master at capturing the internal and external forces that bring change into the lives of her characters, and expressing them through a variety of voices. Whether it’s self perceived obesity, as in "Pretty Face" or a mistaken reading of how good others have it, as in "A Perfect Father," the author explores the strengths of her characters so thoroughly that their weaknesses seem natural partners."
— Fred Gardaphé in Fra Noi
"Births mark beginnings, while funerals toll in endings. Yet there resides so much in-between drama in the timeline of an extended family: moments of intense joy, times of heart-wrenching grief, and the day-to-day plodding of ups and downs that color the struggle with loss in all of human existence. In a series of linked short stories that superbly capture the emotions her characters’ experience, the author deftly chronicles the personal episodes that transform the lives of five Italian-American cousins during the final years before the death of one of the family patriarchs.…
...every one of the glimpses into the lives of the Ficola cousins is a keeper and proves that Labozzetta, in her second collection of short fiction, is a master of this form of writing. Throughout the book, the author reveals how belief or disbelief in the supernatural, betrayal, abandonment, self-sacrifice, and, most of all, love can nudge our lives onto new and unexpected paths..."
— John E. Roper in US Review of Books
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"...the characters maintain a strong, distinctly female voice throughout. They're world-weary and wider for it, and readers will want to enter that world...a comprehensive, compelling family portrait-a whole that's greater than the sum of the parts..."
— Kirkus Reviews
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