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Elizabeth Street
Escrito por Laurie Fabiano
Narrado por Angela Dawe
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"Basing her story on her own family narratives and a deep understanding of Italian Americans, [Fabiano] paints a vivid portrait not just of immigrants' lives in the first ten years of the last century, but of the vicious criminals who preyed on them." -Mike Dash, author of The First Family
In Elizabeth Street, Laurie Fabiano tells a remarkable, and previously unheard, story of the Italian immigrant experience at the start of the twentieth century. With stories culled from her own family history, Fabiano paints an entrancing portrait of Giovanna Costa, who, reeling from personal tragedies, tries to make a new life in a new world. Shot through with the smells and sights of Scilla, Italy, and New York's burgeoning Little Italy, this intoxicating story follows Giovanna as she finds companionship, celebrates the birth of a baby girl, takes pride in a growing business, and feels a sense of belonging during a family outing to Coney Island.
However, these modest successes are rewarded with the attention of the notorious Black Hand, a gang of brutal extortionists led by Lupo the Wolf. As the stakes grow higher, Giovanna desperately struggles to remain outside the fray, so she may fight for-and finally save-what is important above all else: family.
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a escucharInformación sobre el libro
Elizabeth Street
Escrito por Laurie Fabiano
Narrado por Angela Dawe
Descripción
"Basing her story on her own family narratives and a deep understanding of Italian Americans, [Fabiano] paints a vivid portrait not just of immigrants' lives in the first ten years of the last century, but of the vicious criminals who preyed on them." -Mike Dash, author of The First Family
In Elizabeth Street, Laurie Fabiano tells a remarkable, and previously unheard, story of the Italian immigrant experience at the start of the twentieth century. With stories culled from her own family history, Fabiano paints an entrancing portrait of Giovanna Costa, who, reeling from personal tragedies, tries to make a new life in a new world. Shot through with the smells and sights of Scilla, Italy, and New York's burgeoning Little Italy, this intoxicating story follows Giovanna as she finds companionship, celebrates the birth of a baby girl, takes pride in a growing business, and feels a sense of belonging during a family outing to Coney Island.
However, these modest successes are rewarded with the attention of the notorious Black Hand, a gang of brutal extortionists led by Lupo the Wolf. As the stakes grow higher, Giovanna desperately struggles to remain outside the fray, so she may fight for-and finally save-what is important above all else: family.
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As a genealogist, I think this was a great book. I loved it !!
Good book. Really enjoyed it.
In reading the citizen reviews for Elizabeth Street by Laurie Fabiano at Amazon.com, I've come to the conclusion, after reading the book, that the author has a very big, admiring family. Despite the good story that Fabiano has to tell, based on her own family history, the other aspects of the book are thin and flawed. She has added a "select bibliography" at the end of the book, so where it appears that she has done her research into the period, she doesn't seem to have found a way to get that material into the book. Except superficially, there simply is no genuine feel in the book for the early 1900s, Elizabeth Street, New York City. Additionally, there is something "off" about the dialogue/narration ratio of the book that I can't quite put my finger on, except to note that Fabiano never finds a narrative voice. In fact, there is no indication that she understands the concept of narrator, even on the most basic level, a fact which leaves her depending heavily on dialogue, another weakness of this novel. In a word, the dialogue is bad, on the level of the dialogue found in a daytime soap opera. Add in the problem she has with shifting point of view, another aspect of the novel Fabiano doesn't seem to grasp, and you have a recipe for a very plodding read. What made me finish the book was that it is instructive as an excellent example of bad writing.I'm one of those who pays attention to reader reviews. I buy or read a lot of books based on what other readers have to say about the book. Over at Amazon today there are almost 200 reviews for this book, and 172 of them are either 4 or 5-star reviews filled with over-the-moon laudatory praise for this book. Bogus reviews may sell a few books in the short run, but ultimately quality, or, as in this case the lack of it, will out.
A must read. The story of Giovanna will leave you smiling,crying and proud.An invincible woman! If you have an interest in family stories or italian ancestors you should read this book. The life of the immigrant italian was not easy one. Their life in America was not much easier than it was in Italy. This novel is written based on actural family members and stories. A treasure.
This was an eye-opening look at what southern Italian immigrants faced when they came to America in the early 1900's. A very good read!
I have mixed feelings about this one. This book is a fictionalized account of the author's own family history and indeed, with a kidnapping as the central drama, its a more interesting family history than most. And I do love an inter-generational family history. The story was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end and Giovanna herself is a formidable character. She must have been an amazing person in real life.That said, the book suffers from a few different problems. The shifting perspectives between the narrator and Giovanna's story seem to be there to add drama and some tension, but they don't do much to actually drive the story forward and we're never quite sure what drives the present-day narrator to investigate her own family history. The central story of the kidnapping, while interesting, resolves much in the way that we'd expect--the family pays ransom and finally secures Angelina's release, so the suspense, conflict, and tension largely has to come from Giovanna's role. The writing isn't bad, per se, but its not particularly engaging and struggles with finding the right tone and voice, making it rely too much on dialog to do the heavy lifting of moving the story forward.. Another reviewer said that the *feeling* of New York never really comes across to the reader and I'd agree. Despite the urban grittiness of turn-of-the-century New York, we never do get a feeling for the city outside of Giovanna's perceptions. I would have also liked to see more historical context--how does this family's story fit into what we know about Italian immigration? How does it change our perceptions of Italian immigrants? Perhaps widening the cast of characters or inserting the perspective of an omniscient narrator would have helped make the story a bit more complex and help it connect with some bigger themes.
This engaging read tells the story of an Italian immigrant.
This is an absolute gem of a book, published by Amazon Encore who find books that have been overlooked and promote them. I was lucky enough to receive a copy as part of the Amazon Vine programme, and I would encourage anybody, whether part of Vine or not, to read it.It's the story of Giovanna Costa, who marries her childhood sweetheart in Scilla, Italy. He goes to America to try to earn money before coming back to her, but instead Giovanna finds herself following him to New York after tragedy strikes. Against the odds, she makes a life for herself in New York on the Elizabeth Street of the title, but her family becomes a target for the Black Hand protection mob who kidnap her four year old daughter. Giovanna is a brilliant character. All the characters in the book are great, but I particularly loved Giovanna for her courage and strong will. I really like character-driven books and also slice of life stories, and this book is both of those things.I loved following the twists and turns of Giovanna's life, and also things that happened, such as the earthquake that affected Scilla in 1908. The fact that this book is a novel based around true events (the author's great-grandmother and grandmother are Giovanna and her daughter Angelina) really appealed to me and made reading this book even more of a pleasure.Laurie Fabiano really has produced a fantastic read with this book. It seems to be well thought of in America, but has a very small readership in the UK, and it would be great if more people were able to read and appreciate this wonderful book.
historical chapters a decent read, modern parts really weak, writing discrepancies really annoying, and use of family tree removes tension of parts such as tidal wave and survivors-- overall a disappointment
From the Old Country to the Land of LibertyLaurie Fabiano’s new historical novel Elizabeth Street is a fictionalized account of the life of her Grandmother, Giovanna Costa, who crossed the Atlantic in 1902 from Calabria Italy to investigate the death of her husband Nunzio who had made the journey the previous year to find a job and earn enough money for his wife’s passage. Sailing into New York harbor beneath Lady Liberty’s torch, Giovanna soon steps on American shores and is met by her brother-in-law Lorenzo, who will take her to live with his family. Giovanna is then told the shocking and brutal details of how Nunzio was killed on the job at the local Gas company, and together her and Lorenzo hire a lawyer to sue the company for her husbands horrifying death due to their negligence. As Giovanna tries to settle in and learns to navigate the filthy streets of the Italian quarter of New York, struggles with the language barrier, the legal system, and grieves over her loss, she slowly builds a life for herself and remarries another Calabrian who is a produce merchant. Both widows start anew building a family and grocery business, but as life has a tendency to never give people a break in life, troubles and tragedy hit Giovanna hard when the Black Hand, the old name for the Mafia, reeks havoc in their lives by bombing their store and kidnapping their baby girl. What Giovanna does to overcome the threat of extortion, murder, and the concept that she may never see her baby Angelina again, will shock and astound readers as they silently read and cheer her bravery and determination on as she turns the table around and gives the Black Hand a good dose of their own medicine as she learns to play hardball and the hunted becomes the hunter. The author’s retelling of her grandmother’s life is a gripping and fascinating up-close-and-personal view into the world of New York’s turn-of-the-century immigrant life. She offers the reader an honest and realistic picture depicting a life of total hardship, poverty, and chaos amidst the Italian people trying hard to make a new life. This was at a time when the early Mafia gangs were growing and raking in the dough through extortion and terrorizing innocent people. Fabiano’s writing is amazingly poignant and emotional, you will feel for Giovanna and her family as their new life brings only pain, and will immediately be pulled into her story that is so evocative of the time and place you will not be able to put the book down until you finish it. As an Italian-American with Calabrian roots from my father’s parents who came over from Italy in the mid 1800’s, Elizabeth Street helped me greatly to understand the early immigrant culture and life that my own grandparents would have experienced. Thank you Laurie Fabiano for a sensational book! I truly loved this story and believe all Italian Americans today would too.
I loved this family saga of Italian American immigrants. It opens in Scilla, a small town in Calabria, and follows Giovanna, a smart, capable woman who works as a midwife and her family to New York City. She takes on big business, the mob, and the American dream with bravery and passion. The writing is simple, but the characters shine. Fabiano based this story on her own great-grandmother, and her love shines through in her well-drawn characters. An absorbing and moving read. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and family sagas, or those interested in the turn-of-the-century immigrant experience. Four and a half stars.
I really liked this book. The characters and events were compelling and realistic.
This story was based on true events in the author's family. Giovanna immigrated to America from Italy in the early 1900's after the death of her first husband. In America, Giovanna has to deal with the Black Hand, the first Italian mafia.