Within nine months of arriving by ship to New York Harbor, she is pregnant, and the babies come and come and come so often that Hood helpfully provides a family tree that charts the generations into the 1970s. The book opens in the late 1800s with the story of Josephine Rimaldi, married at 15 by family arrangement in Naples, and then left behind for nine blissful, self-aware years in Italy while her husband sets up life in America. Hood takes it all in, the sights, smells, sounds, moods, motions and inner thoughts. That bird’s-eye determination to be in the presence of stories and to stare down drama drew me into Ann Hood’s novel An Italian Wife, which spans several generations of Italian women who are wives, yes, but whose thoughts and actions tell a complex story about marriage, family, community and the passage of time. We were sitting on stairs, listening through the doors, peeking through keyholes. Even if we were not talking about it, we crafty girls were watching, observing, taking it in. But I did grow up in a large Catholic family in an urban setting at a time when girls were gumptiously finding their way into the world’s larger conversation. And I have no idea what my family’s immigrant experience was.

So on a hot August day, unknown to their families, Trudy and crew set off on their journey, each of them with soaring hopes for what lies ahead.In her signature prose, Hood crafts an extraordinary story of growing up, making unexpected connections, and following your dreams even as the world in front of you-and the world at large-is changing too fast.Available for purchase at:AmazonBarnes & NobleBooks A MillionHudson BooksellersIndieBoundPowell'sTargetWalmartGoogle Play Store - Audiobook (Downloadable format)iBooksKobo - Audiobook (Downloadable format)Audible - Audiobook (Downloadable format)audiobooks.I’m not Italian. She is set on seeing them in Boston during their final world tour-and meeting her beloved Paul McCartney. And at home, her workaholic father has become even more distant.Determined to regain her social status and prove herself to her father, Trudy looks toward the biggest thing happening worldwide: the Beatles. Her best friend, Michelle, has decided to become a cheerleader, everyone at school is now calling her Gertrude (her hated real name), and the gem of her middle school career, the Beatles fan club, has dwindled down to only three other members-the least popular kids at school. The Vietnam War rages overseas, the Beatles have catapulted into stardom, and twelve-year-old Rhode Island native Trudy Mixer is not thrilled with life.

'Filled with love, hope, and longing, this is a novel for readers of all ages.' - Holly Goldberg SloanBestselling author Ann Hood crafts a funny, heartfelt story of a girl growing up in the heart of Beatlemania.The year is 1966.

She Loves You by Ann Hood