Umbertina: A Novel
by Helen Barolini
One Amazon reader said: “Rendered in a convincing realism, Helen Barolini’s novel depicts a search for definition as woman and American through three generations, starting with the eponymous Umbertina. One may justifiably assume that the author has lived her subject–so sensitively does she enter and depict it. I would emphatically recommend this book to any American of Italian descent who wishes to understand the experience of his or her forebears and the need of successive generations to come to terms with the past. But that is not to limit its audience. At base, this is an American book, well worth the attention of those willing to feel the struggle, victory, and loss involved in the acquisition of an American identity.”