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Grasso Family Trilogy #2
The Saint of Lost Things: A Novel
It is 1953 in the tight-knit Italian neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware. Maddalena Grasso has lost her country, her family, and the man she loved by coming to America; her mercurial husband, Antonio, has lost his opportunity to realize the American Dream; their new friend, Guilio Fabbri, a shy accordion player, has lost his beloved parents.
In the shadow of St. Anthony’s Church, named for the patron saint of lost things, the prayers of these troubled but determined people are heard, and fate and circumstances conspire to answer them in unforeseeable ways.
With great authenticity and immediacy, The Saint of Lost Things evokes a bittersweet time in which the world seemed more intimate and knowable, and the American Dream simpler, nobler, and within reach.
In the shadow of St. Anthony’s Church, named for the patron saint of lost things, the prayers of these troubled but determined people are heard, and fate and circumstances conspire to answer them in unforeseeable ways.
With great authenticity and immediacy, The Saint of Lost Things evokes a bittersweet time in which the world seemed more intimate and knowable, and the American Dream simpler, nobler, and within reach.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
165 people are currently reading
1208 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Castellani
12 books304 followersChristopher Castellani is the author of five books, most recently the novel Leading Men, for which he received Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, MacDowell, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Leading Men was published by Viking Penguin, and is currently being adapted for film by Peter Spears (Oscar-winning producer of Nomadland) and Searchlight Pictures.
The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story, a collection of essays on point of view in fiction, was published in 2016 by Graywolf Press, and is taught in many creative writing workshops.
His first novel, A Kiss from Maddalena (Algonquin, 2003) won the Massachusetts Book Award; its follow-up, The Saint of Lost Things (Algonquin, 2005), was a BookSense (IndieBound) Notable Book; the final novel in the trilogy, All This Talk of Love (Algonquin, 2013), was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Literary Award.
Christopher is currently on the faculty and academic board of the Warren Wilson MFA program and the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Since 2019, he has chaired the Writing Panel at YoungArts, aka the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists. For nearly twenty years, Christopher was in executive leadership at GrubStreet, where he founded the Muse and the Marketplace national literary conference and led the development of numerous artistic programs for adults, teens, and seniors. In 2015, he was awarded the Barnes and Noble/Poets & Writers “Writer for Writers” Award in recognition of his contributions to the literary community and his generosity toward fellow writers.
The son of Italian immigrants, Christopher’s work often centers the Italian, Italian-American, and queer experience. He was educated at Swarthmore College, received his Masters in English Literature from Tufts University, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Boston University. A native of Wilmington, DE, he now lives in Boston and Provincetown, MA, where he is completing his fifth novel, Last Seen , with the support of a 2024 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Last Seen will be published in February 2026 by Viking Penguin.
The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story, a collection of essays on point of view in fiction, was published in 2016 by Graywolf Press, and is taught in many creative writing workshops.
His first novel, A Kiss from Maddalena (Algonquin, 2003) won the Massachusetts Book Award; its follow-up, The Saint of Lost Things (Algonquin, 2005), was a BookSense (IndieBound) Notable Book; the final novel in the trilogy, All This Talk of Love (Algonquin, 2013), was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Literary Award.
Christopher is currently on the faculty and academic board of the Warren Wilson MFA program and the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Since 2019, he has chaired the Writing Panel at YoungArts, aka the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists. For nearly twenty years, Christopher was in executive leadership at GrubStreet, where he founded the Muse and the Marketplace national literary conference and led the development of numerous artistic programs for adults, teens, and seniors. In 2015, he was awarded the Barnes and Noble/Poets & Writers “Writer for Writers” Award in recognition of his contributions to the literary community and his generosity toward fellow writers.
The son of Italian immigrants, Christopher’s work often centers the Italian, Italian-American, and queer experience. He was educated at Swarthmore College, received his Masters in English Literature from Tufts University, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Boston University. A native of Wilmington, DE, he now lives in Boston and Provincetown, MA, where he is completing his fifth novel, Last Seen , with the support of a 2024 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Last Seen will be published in February 2026 by Viking Penguin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
May 28, 2023
Breathtaking journey. I thoroughly enjoyed the main characters, Julian was my absolute favorite though. Such a beautiful character development throughout the book and the ending was so great. I loved every bit!
November 18, 2020
This is the story of an extended Italian family that has immigrated to the U.S. in the years after WWII. This is the story of loyalty and rivalry, of dreams pursued and dreams modified, of assimilation and heritage, of anxiety and hope. The general sweet and hopeful story is tempered by the inclusion of racial harassment against the only African American family in the Italian neighborhood, but this subplot is not as fully developed as it could have been.
May 5, 2019
Edited May 4, 2019 —
I learned after listening to this delightful author speak this is the second book in a three part story. Now, it makes sense why I felt like I needed more backstory, because there is a first book with all the backstory!!
The concept of this novel struck me -- Italian immigrants in the 1950s, if the action was moved to greater New Haven, CT, rather than Wilmington, DE, I imagine it could have been my own family, but the similarities ended there!
The plight of the immigrant and "fitting" in to their new country was handled decently, but the characters were not particularly well drawn, or dare I say, likeable. The last third of the story was stronger. I am interested in hearing this author speak at Booktopia later this week to gain some further insights. It did feed into a lot of Italian stereotypes, and not that many of them aren't true or common, but I think I wanted the story to have a bit more depth.
I wasn't aware of the robust Italian community in Delaware and I mentioned this to my parents one night, and my father said his family went to Delaware almost once a year because one of my grandfather's best buddies from the Army lived there in one of the Italian neighborhoods.
I learned after listening to this delightful author speak this is the second book in a three part story. Now, it makes sense why I felt like I needed more backstory, because there is a first book with all the backstory!!
The concept of this novel struck me -- Italian immigrants in the 1950s, if the action was moved to greater New Haven, CT, rather than Wilmington, DE, I imagine it could have been my own family, but the similarities ended there!
The plight of the immigrant and "fitting" in to their new country was handled decently, but the characters were not particularly well drawn, or dare I say, likeable. The last third of the story was stronger. I am interested in hearing this author speak at Booktopia later this week to gain some further insights. It did feed into a lot of Italian stereotypes, and not that many of them aren't true or common, but I think I wanted the story to have a bit more depth.
I wasn't aware of the robust Italian community in Delaware and I mentioned this to my parents one night, and my father said his family went to Delaware almost once a year because one of my grandfather's best buddies from the Army lived there in one of the Italian neighborhoods.
January 16, 2014
Another "quiet" book that captivated me. Beautifully renders the paradox of the immigrant's life: hope for the new world, grief for all that's left behind.
Elegant writing. The author switches deftly from one character's point of view to another. I admit I'm partial to the subject matter, as I love immigrant tales, but the descriptions of the daily grind and family life of the Grassos, trying to claw their way into the American Dream, made me feel like I was there with them. Felt particularly partial to Giulio/Julian, a lonely and misunderstoond poet/musician friend of the family who perhaps has an even harder time fitting into America than Maddalena, even though he has less back in Italy for which to pine.
I admit I was a bit queasy that a central mystery/crime in the book hangs throughout as an open question. But evidently Wilmington in the 1950s experienced a rash of awful, still unsolved crimes of this type. In that historical context, a tidy and "fair" resolution would have likely felt far too tidy for the messy world of 1954 Little Italy.
Elegant writing. The author switches deftly from one character's point of view to another. I admit I'm partial to the subject matter, as I love immigrant tales, but the descriptions of the daily grind and family life of the Grassos, trying to claw their way into the American Dream, made me feel like I was there with them. Felt particularly partial to Giulio/Julian, a lonely and misunderstoond poet/musician friend of the family who perhaps has an even harder time fitting into America than Maddalena, even though he has less back in Italy for which to pine.
I admit I was a bit queasy that a central mystery/crime in the book hangs throughout as an open question. But evidently Wilmington in the 1950s experienced a rash of awful, still unsolved crimes of this type. In that historical context, a tidy and "fair" resolution would have likely felt far too tidy for the messy world of 1954 Little Italy.
Read
July 27, 2011I enjoyed this book quite a bit--my biggest issue with it was that I wanted to know more. Everything seems to wrap up rather quickly at the end, and I wanted to know more about several of the "holes" that were skipped over--What happened after Madalena woke up in the hospital? How did Cassie and Renato react when they learned their restaurant had been vandalized? How did Julian and Helen's relationship develop?
Overall, it was a good read with a lot of interesting characters.
Overall, it was a good read with a lot of interesting characters.
August 28, 2011
From November 2005 School Library Journal:
It is 1953 and Maddalena Grasso is newly arrived in the United States, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar language, strange customs, and her place in her new extended family. Her husband, Antonio, is a perpetually dissatisfied man who yearns after the American Dream: shiny new car, new home, and children. Having convinced the beautiful Maddalena to marry him and leave her family behind, he now watches over her jealously and becomes ever more frustrated over his inability to acquire all the outward trappings of success to which he feels entitled. He feels a mixture of contempt and jealousy for his brother Mario, who seems perfectly happy with his average wife, his nondescript daughters, and his job managing someone else’s restaurant. While Maddalena tries to keep Antonio grounded in the simpler joys of the life they share, his childhood friend Renato, adventurous and single, lures him on with promises of easy riches.
Maddalena befriends a middle-aged single man who has recently lost both his parents. Giulio Fabbri is drifting through life, trying to overcome his feelings of purposelessness. As his friendship with Maddalena and the Grasso family deepens, Giulio comes to understand himself and his dreams better, and realizes that he must take risks if he is ever going to be more than an observer of life.
Threading through the various relationships are undercurrents of racial tension. An African-American family moves into the predominantly Italian neighborhood, and the community reacts with ugliness and prejudice. The presence of Abraham Waters and his family seems to be a personal affront to the residents of “Little Italy.” Maddalena, Antonio, and Giulio each interact with Abraham Waters in markedly different ways, and these differences are very telling in how they handle life’s disappointments and surprises in general. With The Saint of Lost Things, Christopher Castellani has crafted a lyrical and elegant novel that goes beyond an Italian-American community in the middle of the twentieth century. His character portraits are finely drawn and he has a keen eye for the subtle dramas of family and friendship.
It is 1953 and Maddalena Grasso is newly arrived in the United States, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar language, strange customs, and her place in her new extended family. Her husband, Antonio, is a perpetually dissatisfied man who yearns after the American Dream: shiny new car, new home, and children. Having convinced the beautiful Maddalena to marry him and leave her family behind, he now watches over her jealously and becomes ever more frustrated over his inability to acquire all the outward trappings of success to which he feels entitled. He feels a mixture of contempt and jealousy for his brother Mario, who seems perfectly happy with his average wife, his nondescript daughters, and his job managing someone else’s restaurant. While Maddalena tries to keep Antonio grounded in the simpler joys of the life they share, his childhood friend Renato, adventurous and single, lures him on with promises of easy riches.
Maddalena befriends a middle-aged single man who has recently lost both his parents. Giulio Fabbri is drifting through life, trying to overcome his feelings of purposelessness. As his friendship with Maddalena and the Grasso family deepens, Giulio comes to understand himself and his dreams better, and realizes that he must take risks if he is ever going to be more than an observer of life.
Threading through the various relationships are undercurrents of racial tension. An African-American family moves into the predominantly Italian neighborhood, and the community reacts with ugliness and prejudice. The presence of Abraham Waters and his family seems to be a personal affront to the residents of “Little Italy.” Maddalena, Antonio, and Giulio each interact with Abraham Waters in markedly different ways, and these differences are very telling in how they handle life’s disappointments and surprises in general. With The Saint of Lost Things, Christopher Castellani has crafted a lyrical and elegant novel that goes beyond an Italian-American community in the middle of the twentieth century. His character portraits are finely drawn and he has a keen eye for the subtle dramas of family and friendship.
June 28, 2011
It sure had characters, and a plot.
April 21, 2023
As my sister and I read our way across America, this was our pick for a book that takes place in Delaware. I give this dreary story of Italian immigrants 2.5 stars. I now know that Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things.
June 23, 2016
In a cultural moment where page turners get all the oxygen, this book is a quiet friend full of wisdom, heart, and language as comforting as a lullaby:
"Open and close your mouth, like a fish, like Sister Clark teaching you English, like an old woman who's lost her mind and sits alone, no longer responsive to light and touch; the sound you'll make, instinctively, the most natural sound in the world is ma. Mamma. Mamma. Under god there are no accidents. He gives us answers as clear as letters on a chalkboard. When we are babies, our first reach is for the woman who bore us; eighty years later, in our loneliness, after our husbands and lovers and children have gone, our final cry is for her. This is how Maddalena, in the blackness and silence of her long sleep, outside her daughter's reach, comprehends human life. It if little more than the opening and closing of mouths--eager for milk, for kisses, for help, protection, explanation--a million hours of talk continuing ceaselessly, until God shuts you up for good."
"One thing Antonio had learned is that the least deserving people always stumbled upon the hidden treasure. While they were busy digging in the right places, hardworking men like himself were off saving money for shovels."
"I read the paper every day," Julian says, his eyes on the dark windows, the empty driveway across the street. The world turns on cruelty, he might tell her. Not love. Not generosity. There are only two kinds of people left on earth--those whom grief has touched, and those it is coming for. If he could lift the rooks of the houses in his sight, of all the houses in Wilmington, and catch the people unaware, he'd see the desperate faces they try so hard to conceal. Instead, Julian said, "I'm read a thousand books, probably. But I don't understand one bit how the world works. Sometimes I think I was never meant to live in it. "
"It is nine-thirty. The city is quiet and cold, the sky thick with stars. Everyone with a place to go tonight has already arrived. Only a few cars speed down Union Street, late for the best part of any New Year's Eve celebration: these tipsy hours of anticipation and promise, when it feels as though, at the stroke of twelve, your heart will finally lighten and your sins will be washed clean."
"She wishes them not love or money...instead she wishes them fearlessness in all things: in love, yes, but also in work, in expectation, in the leap from the high rocks, in looking back, and in forgetting."
Salta, indeed. What a gift this book is. My only complaint is it's out of print so now that I'm done reading it I'll have to give it back to the person who lent it me.
"Open and close your mouth, like a fish, like Sister Clark teaching you English, like an old woman who's lost her mind and sits alone, no longer responsive to light and touch; the sound you'll make, instinctively, the most natural sound in the world is ma. Mamma. Mamma. Under god there are no accidents. He gives us answers as clear as letters on a chalkboard. When we are babies, our first reach is for the woman who bore us; eighty years later, in our loneliness, after our husbands and lovers and children have gone, our final cry is for her. This is how Maddalena, in the blackness and silence of her long sleep, outside her daughter's reach, comprehends human life. It if little more than the opening and closing of mouths--eager for milk, for kisses, for help, protection, explanation--a million hours of talk continuing ceaselessly, until God shuts you up for good."
"One thing Antonio had learned is that the least deserving people always stumbled upon the hidden treasure. While they were busy digging in the right places, hardworking men like himself were off saving money for shovels."
"I read the paper every day," Julian says, his eyes on the dark windows, the empty driveway across the street. The world turns on cruelty, he might tell her. Not love. Not generosity. There are only two kinds of people left on earth--those whom grief has touched, and those it is coming for. If he could lift the rooks of the houses in his sight, of all the houses in Wilmington, and catch the people unaware, he'd see the desperate faces they try so hard to conceal. Instead, Julian said, "I'm read a thousand books, probably. But I don't understand one bit how the world works. Sometimes I think I was never meant to live in it. "
"It is nine-thirty. The city is quiet and cold, the sky thick with stars. Everyone with a place to go tonight has already arrived. Only a few cars speed down Union Street, late for the best part of any New Year's Eve celebration: these tipsy hours of anticipation and promise, when it feels as though, at the stroke of twelve, your heart will finally lighten and your sins will be washed clean."
"She wishes them not love or money...instead she wishes them fearlessness in all things: in love, yes, but also in work, in expectation, in the leap from the high rocks, in looking back, and in forgetting."
Salta, indeed. What a gift this book is. My only complaint is it's out of print so now that I'm done reading it I'll have to give it back to the person who lent it me.
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April 19, 2007From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–It is 1953, and Maddalena Grasso, newly arrived in the United States from Italy, is trying to make sense of the language, the customs, and her place in her new, extended family. Her perpetually dissatisfied husband, Antonio, yearns for the American Dream: shiny new car, new home, and children. Having convinced the beautiful Maddalena to marry him and leave her family behind, he now watches over her jealously. He feels a mixture of contempt and envy for his brother, who seems perfectly happy with his average wife, nondescript daughters, and job managing a restaurant. While Maddalena tries to keep Antonio grounded in the simpler joys of the life they share, an adventurous and single childhood friend lures him with promises of easy riches. Maddalena befriends a middle-aged single man who has recently lost both parents. Giulio Fabbri is drifting through life, but as his friendship with the Grassos deepens, he comes to understand himself and his dreams better. Threading through the various relationships are undercurrents of racial tension. When an African-American family moves into their predominantly Italian neighborhood, the community reacts with ugliness. Maddalena, Antonio, and Giulio interact with Abraham Waters in markedly different ways, and these differences are telling in how each individual handles life's disappointments and surprises. Castellani's lyrical and elegant novel goes beyond the story of a mid-20th-century Italian-American community. His characters are finely drawn, and he has a keen eye for the subtle dramas of family and friendship.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA
Adult/High School–It is 1953, and Maddalena Grasso, newly arrived in the United States from Italy, is trying to make sense of the language, the customs, and her place in her new, extended family. Her perpetually dissatisfied husband, Antonio, yearns for the American Dream: shiny new car, new home, and children. Having convinced the beautiful Maddalena to marry him and leave her family behind, he now watches over her jealously. He feels a mixture of contempt and envy for his brother, who seems perfectly happy with his average wife, nondescript daughters, and job managing a restaurant. While Maddalena tries to keep Antonio grounded in the simpler joys of the life they share, an adventurous and single childhood friend lures him with promises of easy riches. Maddalena befriends a middle-aged single man who has recently lost both parents. Giulio Fabbri is drifting through life, but as his friendship with the Grassos deepens, he comes to understand himself and his dreams better. Threading through the various relationships are undercurrents of racial tension. When an African-American family moves into their predominantly Italian neighborhood, the community reacts with ugliness. Maddalena, Antonio, and Giulio interact with Abraham Waters in markedly different ways, and these differences are telling in how each individual handles life's disappointments and surprises. Castellani's lyrical and elegant novel goes beyond the story of a mid-20th-century Italian-American community. His characters are finely drawn, and he has a keen eye for the subtle dramas of family and friendship.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA
June 4, 2013
The story begun in A Kiss from Maddalena continues seven years later with Maddalena and Antonio, the husband she has very reluctantly married and emigrated to the US with, have settled into his family's house in Delaware. The small town atmosphere of a "little Italy" in Wilmington is not entirely unlike the small town they both grew up in in Italy, and yet it is worlds away and Maddalena has not stopped longing for home, for family, and even for her first love who is now married to her older, estranged, sister.
The cast of characters are rich and real and readers are giving a broader picture of Antonio's family, and of his motivations. As they struggle with their marriage, emotions, desires and with finding a place in the world, I grew more and more committed to these people, even the supporting characters are wonderful. A very satisfying story, and now, on to the new book, All This Talk of Love, set another 40 - 50 years in the future, in other words, in the present.
The cast of characters are rich and real and readers are giving a broader picture of Antonio's family, and of his motivations. As they struggle with their marriage, emotions, desires and with finding a place in the world, I grew more and more committed to these people, even the supporting characters are wonderful. A very satisfying story, and now, on to the new book, All This Talk of Love, set another 40 - 50 years in the future, in other words, in the present.
September 20, 2007
This novel is a sequel to Castellani's A Kiss From Maddelena. At first I was sad because this book picks up years later and in America, not Italy. But the sadness I felt worked for the book as Maddelena misses her home country of Italy and her family. The book is about cultures and relationships, immigrants in 1950s Delaware. It truly feels real- what Maddelena is experiencing, her marriage, her feelings...And I can relate to her- she is alone in America with her husband's entire Italian (now turning American) family. I am alone in NJ (my family's in FL) with my husband's entire Italian-American family. We do not live in the same space, exactly, as they do but we share a two-family home... Reading the Italian customs, their words/speech, it feels almost like a journal to me- my journal and I love it.
November 13, 2012
This story is about an Italian immigrant family. Told within that cultural context it is a wonderful insight into how these immigrants struggled to make it in the New World while also wanting to become a part of the US.
They are proud of their culture and language, but at the same time they all learn English and the American way of life. They work very hard at becoming Americans and obtaining the status that that brings. I borrowed this one from the library, but I might buy a copy and add it to my library.
They are proud of their culture and language, but at the same time they all learn English and the American way of life. They work very hard at becoming Americans and obtaining the status that that brings. I borrowed this one from the library, but I might buy a copy and add it to my library.
September 20, 2016
Oh my goodness, I thought this book was so good. I only recommend it to those who have the patience to to read about a character's life. I know nit can get boring when they literally describe their day but they go back and forth between characters and I think it was a beautiful and interesting book about life in the view of an immigrant in America.
October 18, 2011
Christopher Castellani converts ordinary characters into magical beings who both understand and relate with every human. The story is well told, full of anticipation and happiness. However, it never loses its hint of melancholy and loss.
December 27, 2012
Some of these people were so familiar to me. Only they were recent Italian immigrants in Virginia, not Delaware, but with the same hopes and fears.
January 30, 2019
I enjoyed this book (apparently the second in a trilogy involving these characters) about an Italian immigrant family in Wilmington, Delaware. Antonio Grasso brought the beautiful Maddalena from a small town in Italy to marry him and make a life in America. Maddalena misses her first love Vito, her mother and her small village, and she has to figure out how she will fall in love with Antonio, and how she will assimilate into American life. Antonio has dreams of breaking free of the Ford Auto factory where he works, and eventually being brave enough to open a restaurant.
Antonio is involved with a couple of bad characters, Renato and Buzzy, who hate the fact that a black family has moved into Renato's mother's Italian neighborhood. He gets involved with repeatedly vandalizing the family's property in a disgusting manner. This is one thread of the story that I felt got dropped, with no consequences for Antonio, and no follow up. There are a number of other things he does without consequence, and without apparently a second thought. There are a number of threads such as this one that are ignored or glossed over. Much of Antonio's selfishness makes it difficult to like him; I found myself wishing that Maddalena would leave him.
One character I loved was Julian, (Italian name Giulio); his character was so beautifully drawn that, despite his being older than Maddalena, I wanted them to end up together. He was such a better man than Antonio.
Though I enjoyed the story, I wish I could have known more about Maddalena's earlier love affair (I guess that's in the first book of the trilogy, which I'll now have to read!), more about Helen and Julian's relationship, what happened as a result of Antonio bashing the sign of Renato's restaurant and what happened as a result of his involvement in vandalizing the black man's house. I would have also loved to see a developing relationship between Julian and the African American man, Abraham Waters.
Overall, though, Castellani has told a good yarn, from different characters' alternating points of view, and a great story of the immigrant experience.
Strangely this book had no page numbers! Rather annoying!
Antonio is involved with a couple of bad characters, Renato and Buzzy, who hate the fact that a black family has moved into Renato's mother's Italian neighborhood. He gets involved with repeatedly vandalizing the family's property in a disgusting manner. This is one thread of the story that I felt got dropped, with no consequences for Antonio, and no follow up. There are a number of other things he does without consequence, and without apparently a second thought. There are a number of threads such as this one that are ignored or glossed over. Much of Antonio's selfishness makes it difficult to like him; I found myself wishing that Maddalena would leave him.
One character I loved was Julian, (Italian name Giulio); his character was so beautifully drawn that, despite his being older than Maddalena, I wanted them to end up together. He was such a better man than Antonio.
Though I enjoyed the story, I wish I could have known more about Maddalena's earlier love affair (I guess that's in the first book of the trilogy, which I'll now have to read!), more about Helen and Julian's relationship, what happened as a result of Antonio bashing the sign of Renato's restaurant and what happened as a result of his involvement in vandalizing the black man's house. I would have also loved to see a developing relationship between Julian and the African American man, Abraham Waters.
Overall, though, Castellani has told a good yarn, from different characters' alternating points of view, and a great story of the immigrant experience.
Strangely this book had no page numbers! Rather annoying!
September 20, 2020
This one took me a year to read. I’m not sure why. There is nothing that I hate about the book but it’s not a story driven book, instead it is more of a character study.
Set in 1950s New Jersey the story follows Italian immigrants who are making their way and building new lives in this land full of promise, but where life is not necessarily easier than in the old country.
There are three main characters:
Maddalana is the newest immigrant. She leaves her life, family and lost loves behind for a man, who is originally from her hometown but moved away much younger. She follows the promise and opportunity without really knowing what to expect in the new land with a new language. She gets woven into her husband’s family and the Italian neighborhood in Wilmington that they live in.
Antonio is Maddalena’s husband. He is full of dreams but lacks courage to actually use all his savings and open a restaurant. The question is, how long will he continue to work hard and save before he finds his courage to fulfill his dream.
The relationship between the two is full of unspoken expectations, desires, fears, wishes, and needs. While sometimes hard to understand from a 2020 viewpoint, it’s a careful study of social norms of the 50s. Some things were done this way. Yet, the reader has sometimes the urge to get both of them together for some couples therapy.
And there is Giulio/Julian who is orphaned at the age of fortysomething and who is coping and surviving all alone in a big house. Eventually, he meets Maddalena and Antonio, and him and Maddalena become friends. Their lives crisscross and they push each other gently forward.
Set in 1950s New Jersey the story follows Italian immigrants who are making their way and building new lives in this land full of promise, but where life is not necessarily easier than in the old country.
There are three main characters:
Maddalana is the newest immigrant. She leaves her life, family and lost loves behind for a man, who is originally from her hometown but moved away much younger. She follows the promise and opportunity without really knowing what to expect in the new land with a new language. She gets woven into her husband’s family and the Italian neighborhood in Wilmington that they live in.
Antonio is Maddalena’s husband. He is full of dreams but lacks courage to actually use all his savings and open a restaurant. The question is, how long will he continue to work hard and save before he finds his courage to fulfill his dream.
The relationship between the two is full of unspoken expectations, desires, fears, wishes, and needs. While sometimes hard to understand from a 2020 viewpoint, it’s a careful study of social norms of the 50s. Some things were done this way. Yet, the reader has sometimes the urge to get both of them together for some couples therapy.
And there is Giulio/Julian who is orphaned at the age of fortysomething and who is coping and surviving all alone in a big house. Eventually, he meets Maddalena and Antonio, and him and Maddalena become friends. Their lives crisscross and they push each other gently forward.
September 5, 2022
I wasn't sure what the title had to do with the book until I read the blurb - you certainly couldn't figure it out from the novel itself. Also not sure who the three women on the cover are supposed to be - Maddalena and her sister-in-law Ida and somebody, I guess, a co-worker or somebody's girlfriend or maybe somebody's mother? Anyway, that's a minor quibble but at some point the minor quibbles begin to add up. (Letters in Italian sound the same wherever they are in a word? Not true of C which can be Ch or K depending on the following vowel, and a native Italian speaker would certainly know that.)
I haven't read the first novel in this series, which apparently took place in Italy. This one is about Italian immigrants in the 50s in Delaware, an extended family in a Little Italy neighborhood and the Irish and Jewish and African-American folks they interact with. There is culture clash, northern Italians looking down on southern Italians and an attempt to drive out a black family, but most of the plot centers around Maddalena and her husband and their attempts to realize their dreams.
I felt like Castellani didn't tie up all his loose ends, particularly when it came to the missing son of the black family. And I don't know if the third book will address any of the action in this one. But it was an interesting look at the immigrant experience, along the lines of Adriana Trigiani's novels.
I haven't read the first novel in this series, which apparently took place in Italy. This one is about Italian immigrants in the 50s in Delaware, an extended family in a Little Italy neighborhood and the Irish and Jewish and African-American folks they interact with. There is culture clash, northern Italians looking down on southern Italians and an attempt to drive out a black family, but most of the plot centers around Maddalena and her husband and their attempts to realize their dreams.
I felt like Castellani didn't tie up all his loose ends, particularly when it came to the missing son of the black family. And I don't know if the third book will address any of the action in this one. But it was an interesting look at the immigrant experience, along the lines of Adriana Trigiani's novels.
May 6, 2025
How often do you come across a novel whose setting is located in a place that you live near - Wilmington, Delaware! (Del-a-where?)
This is the middle book in a series of 3. The story takes place in the early-mid 1950's. Little Italy is firmly established around St. Anthony's (who hosts a very large Italian festival each year). St. Anthony of Padua is known as the patron saint of lost and stolen items.
This centers around the Grasso family, the two brothers, Mario and Antonio, their families, and their parents. Multi-generational family living. Antonia had returned to Italy and married Maddalena, returning with her to Wilmington. Maddalena deals with leaving her family behind while trying to adapt to a new culture and language.
A new family moves into Little Italy which challenges the current residents acceptance.
A story about the Italian immigration experience, building a new life in a different country, while holding on to the traditions and growing the community. Enjoy the lively Christmas and New Year's eve celebrations.
This is the middle book in a series of 3. The story takes place in the early-mid 1950's. Little Italy is firmly established around St. Anthony's (who hosts a very large Italian festival each year). St. Anthony of Padua is known as the patron saint of lost and stolen items.
This centers around the Grasso family, the two brothers, Mario and Antonio, their families, and their parents. Multi-generational family living. Antonia had returned to Italy and married Maddalena, returning with her to Wilmington. Maddalena deals with leaving her family behind while trying to adapt to a new culture and language.
A new family moves into Little Italy which challenges the current residents acceptance.
A story about the Italian immigration experience, building a new life in a different country, while holding on to the traditions and growing the community. Enjoy the lively Christmas and New Year's eve celebrations.
January 11, 2018
I have life experience with the area in which the novel is set and of the period it speaks. That's what attracted me to discovering the book set in Wilmington, DE. Description of people and places resonated with my memories. The main characters are members of an immigrant family. [immigrant stories should be necessary reading for everyone alive today] Writing is good. Narrative nicely connected to theme named by the title. Appreciated dialogue. The story includes realistic racial tension from the period that sadly portrays only one side; but, one-sided is realistic of my experience then, too. The Saint of Lost Things is book two of a trilogy. It can stand alone. Maybe, I won't seek out a copy of book one. I am interested to go on to book three.
January 15, 2019
I feel like this book was over-hyped but I still really enjoyed it. If you love characters more than you love plots, you'll like this one. A fairly quick read that takes you right to the center of an Italian immigrant community and family in the Wilmington, DE area, 1940s-ish.
I selected this book as my Delaware read, a component of my project to read a couple great books from/about each state. There's not a lot that actually *happens* in the novel, but -the rumors are true- Castellani does an incredible job bringing his characters to life (whether you like them or not).
TSOLT takes a hard look at the racism leveled by Italian immigrants against African Americans who also lived in their communities. The book also explores gender and family dynamics among the main characters.
I selected this book as my Delaware read, a component of my project to read a couple great books from/about each state. There's not a lot that actually *happens* in the novel, but -the rumors are true- Castellani does an incredible job bringing his characters to life (whether you like them or not).
TSOLT takes a hard look at the racism leveled by Italian immigrants against African Americans who also lived in their communities. The book also explores gender and family dynamics among the main characters.
August 21, 2017
There was a posting on FaceBook about the best book fro each state and of the 50 states listed this book was the only one I hadn't read. So...I immediately ordered it. In the beginning I loved the story but by the middle it was dragging along. I kept slogging my way through and when I got to the last quarter of the book I was enjoying it again. The characters are well written, human, but often boring - probably too real for me. Sometimes the writing is beautiful, almost lyical. Through out the entire book I kept expecting something to happen but, really, nothing ever did. Just a picture of a dreary lives. Oh well, I've now read all 50 books.
August 3, 2018
Met plezier gelezen.
Liz Barton wrote ..."...Everything seems to wrap up rather quickly at the end, and I wanted to know more about several of the "holes" that were skipped over--What happened after Madalena woke up in the hospital? How did Cassie and Renato react when they learned their restaurant had been vandalized? How did Julian and Helen's relationship develop?.....
En kan me daar bij aansluiten. In het het boek wordt niet alles chronologisch beschreven en hou daar zelf niet zo van.
Maar vond het een mooi boek... moest er wel even inkomen.
Madalena die naar een ander land vertrekt en naast heimwee moet wennen aan een heel ander leven....
Liz Barton wrote ..."...Everything seems to wrap up rather quickly at the end, and I wanted to know more about several of the "holes" that were skipped over--What happened after Madalena woke up in the hospital? How did Cassie and Renato react when they learned their restaurant had been vandalized? How did Julian and Helen's relationship develop?.....
En kan me daar bij aansluiten. In het het boek wordt niet alles chronologisch beschreven en hou daar zelf niet zo van.
Maar vond het een mooi boek... moest er wel even inkomen.
Madalena die naar een ander land vertrekt en naast heimwee moet wennen aan een heel ander leven....
January 26, 2020
This is the story of an Italian village girl who immigrates to the USA with a new Italian American husband. There are a couple of threads within the novel which are clumsily handled but I finished it despite feeling it was not among the best written immigrant novels. Maddalena goes from lost unhappiness to a sense of contentment in her new land but this reader did not feel satisfied mainly because the writing was mostly pedestrian and the plotting weak. I suppose I finished it because I rather liked Maddalena. If I were permitted to give half stars I would have rated this 2 1/2.
November 9, 2018
a very interesting book-I enjoyed seeing the world through different characters' eyes. Is a sequel coming? They left some people in the book sort of hanging and I can't believe that Antonio never suffers for the horrible thing he did! I didn't care for Maddalena's personality change near the end either. It seemed like since she was now a mother she had no personality at all. Yes, she was content and not dwelling in the past anymore but she just seemed so bland to me now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2022
I read this because it is set in Wilmington, Delaware, where my family comes from. I've always been interested in the ways in which 20th-century immigrant families in Wilmington maintained their own communities, languages, and customs while simultaneously building broader communities with other such groups. This is a fun look at the Italian-American component of that, and also takes a bold stab at examining the tensions of racial integration within an immigrant neighborhood.
March 7, 2021
This had the bones of a great story, but it was all over the place with different threads to follow--but they stopped and started, going back and forth. I did finish it but felt unsatisfied with the ending. For me, it seemed he was trying to tell too many stories, and didn't give any of them enough to flesh out.
September 8, 2021
Themes of family, loyalty, faith, the struggles faced by immigrants and minorities, nostalgia for that which is lost, and hope for the future, are lived by the characters in this second novel about Maddalena from Santa Cecilia. The readers guide in the edition I borrowed from the public library highlights these and more as fruit ripe for discussion.
July 29, 2022
Long, tedious and confusing
What can I say but kept hoping for more insights and conclusions. Several ends left unfinished, some interactions were downright puzzling. Not a big fan of such drawn out lack of story telling. Put the book down many times due to the yawn factor. Just not my kind of novel.
What can I say but kept hoping for more insights and conclusions. Several ends left unfinished, some interactions were downright puzzling. Not a big fan of such drawn out lack of story telling. Put the book down many times due to the yawn factor. Just not my kind of novel.
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