Description
Fiction. Women's Studies. Italian Studies. A sequel to The Girls of Piazza d'Amore, this novel is a sweeping epic that chronicles the lives of three women of different generations, all living in Montreal, but connected and haunted by the same Italian village past. After her childhood friend, Lucia—protagonist of The Girls of Piazza D'Amoreis is found beaten, an apparent victim of domestic violence, and Lucia's husband disappears, Cathy, a high school teacher, takes Lucia's daughter, Angie, into her home. This arrangement causes conflict between Cathy and her live-in boyfriend, Sean. There are rumours that Lucia's family is connected to the Montreal Mafia. Sean is involved in Federal politics and sees Angie's presence in their home as a political liability. Out of loyalty to her old friend, Cathy refuses to let Angie go. Meanwhile, Lucia's husband is located in Italy from where he makes accusations of corruption against Lucia's family and their business partner with ties to the Liberal Member of Parliament for whom Sean works. These revelations are brought to the attention of the Montreal tabloids by a journalist, Antoine Le Grand, with whom Cathy has had a problematic relationship since her teens, when she solicited his help as a writing mentor. All of these elements come to a head when Cathy returns home after a Halloween party and discovers Angie is missing. She desperately searches for her and, in doing so, comes face to face with the underbelly of the city and the school.
Author Bio
Connie Guzzo-McParland has a Master's degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University. Her novel, The Girls of Piazza d'Amore, was published in 2013 and shortlisted for the Concordia First Novel Award by the Quebec Writer's Federation. Since 2000, she has been an active member of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers and its secretary till 2012. Since 2011, she has participated in a reading committee set up by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Montreal to award Italy's Strega Prize. In 2010, together with writer and business partner Michael Mirolla, she took the helm of Guernica Editions filling the role of President and Chief Administrator. She lives in Montreal.
Author City: MONTREAL, QC CAN