Book Club: Like Family (Il Nero e l'Argento)

The Book Club is now reading Like Family, a book by award-winning author Paolo Giordano. The Italian version is called Il Nero e l’Argento. Both are available on Amazon. We will meet on October 22 at 5:30 PM to discuss. Join at Sorelle Italian Market & Cafe, 3976 IL-22, Long Grove.

Summary: When Signora A first enters the narrator’s home, his wife, Nora, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. First as their maid and nanny, then their confidante, this older woman begins to help her employers negotiate married life, quickly becoming the glue in their small household. She is the steady, maternal influence for both husband and wife, and their son, Emanuele, whom she protects from his parents’ expectations and disappointments. But the family’s delicate fabric comes undone when Signora A is diagnosed with cancer. Moving seamlessly between the past and present, Giordano highlights with remarkable precision the joy of youth and the fleeting nature of time. An elegiac, heartrending, and deeply personal portrait of marriage and the people we choose to call family, this is a jewel of a novel—short, intense, and unforgettable.

Buona lettura!

"Ciao Ragazzi!" is a Meetup group sponsored by the Contemporary Italian Cultural Society (CICS), its parent organization.