Beginnings

Beginnings is a sprawling story of an American century, set in the Tyrolean and Italian immigrant communities of Pennsylvania. Louise and Stanley and their daughter Gena struggle to make peace with their pasts, fall into and out of love, and experience tragedy and joy against the backdrop of passing decades and changing social mores.

By turns elegant, romantic, and devastating, it is a portrait of hopes and compromised dreams, of church dances, mineworker taverns, beauty salons, and Caribbean cruises, over-brimming on every page with compassionate wisdom.