From the author of the 2000 novel, The Last Cannoli, comes new fiction: The Mystique of the Last Cannoli (not a sequel, but same characters, appropriately aged, with new drama/intrigue). Carmela, youngest in a large Sicilian-American family, discovers a local tough threatening her father’s dream of founding an orphanage.
Determined to find a solution to his dilemma, she enlists her older sisters, aka the Sister Mob. A comedy of errors untangles the obstacles and the secret of the family’s sanctified “last cannoli.” The sisters bring together a diverse cast, including Sicilians from both sides of the Atlantic. Woven with intrigue and humor, the novel is an engaging look into family bonds and sisterly love, as well as a sweet confection of a mystery.
Endorsements
“A delicious dive into the heart of Sicilian New Jersey. Cusumano weaves together compelling characters, fascinating old-world traditions, a spice of mystery, and the power of family bonds."
—Susan Van Allen, 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go
"A delightfully engaging romp that weaves together the bonds of Sicilian sisterhood and family secrets across two continents. Perfetto per la spiaggia! (Perfect for the beach!)”
—Carla Gambescia, award-winning author of La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture from A to Z
“A long-frozen cannoli is the guardian of memories from the old country in Camille’s novel of a luminous family history. A life-affirming story inhabited by ancestors from Sicily unfolds as Carmela, the youngest, vividly re-creates rough-and-tumble New Jersey in the 1960s and ’70s, when she witnessed the family navigate the pull of priests and con-men.”
—Michael Shapiro, author of The Creative Spark
“Camille weaves tales of her Sicilian ancestors with the deeds of their relatives on the other side of the Atlantic, making for a lively read sure to be a great companion on a trip to Italy.”
—Laura Fraser, author of The Italian Affair
About the author
Camille Cusumano is the author of the memoir, TANGO: an Argentine Love Story (2008, Seal Press) and the editor of anthologies on France, Italy, Greece, and Mexico. She is the author of the 2000 novel, The Last Cannoli (Legas, 2000). Her new novel, The Mystique of the Last Cannoli, follows the same characters as they mature with new intrigues and dramas.
