Finding a New View
By M. CLARE HAEFNER | Cover courtesy of DUTTON
Many novels and films have transported protagonists in need of new direction to Tuscany, but no one does it quite like Adriana Trigiani.
Her artful descriptions paint pictures with words, bringing life to every page.
In her newest novel, The View From Lake Como (Dutton, July 2025), Giuseppina “Jess” Capodimonte Baratta seeks her dolce vita (sweet life) in Carrara.
Jess arrives in Italy fleeing her life in Lake Como, New Jersey. With a failed marriage and an overbearing family, the only part of her life she likes is her job as a drafter working alongside her Uncle Louie at Capodimonte Marble and Stone.
But after the death of that beloved uncle/mentor/best friend, Jess desperately needs a new perspective — especially after the FBI comes calling, investigating Louie’s secret secondary, offshore business that he set up in Jess’ name.
Exchanging the Jersey shore for Tuscany, Jess decides to take the trip Uncle Louie planned for them and heads to Carrara solo to escape her grief.
As she learns more about the process of cutting stone and refining it, Jess also discovers her true self — and some long-buried family secrets.
“The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Those lies keep us in jobs we hate, in marriages that suffocate us, and in places where we cannot thrive. It takes guts to change. If Italy is the great teacher, and if she’s going to be mine, I have to accept that there are no accidents,” Jess writes in a journal for her online therapy program. Her healing process reveals the past, helps Jess face the present and prepare to embrace the future.
I’ve been a fan of Trigiani’s since her debut novel Big Stone Gap was published in 2003. Her strong female characters and their big Italian American families bring lots of entertaining drama and heartfelt revelations. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but you’ll be fulfilled with the turn of every page.
Summer is the perfect time to get swept away in another of her stories. With The View From Lake Como, you’ll feel like you’ve visited Tuscany and New Jersey without ever leaving home.
Want more adventures in Italy? Start with the book Jess loves in The View From Lake Como: E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View, which features Florence (the 1985 movie adaptation is also worth watching). Or read some of Trigiani’s other novels, including The Shoemaker’s Wife and The Supreme Macaroni Company.
Nonfiction fans should pick up Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun. Her great memoir inspired the eponymous 2003 film starring Diane Lane. You also can’t go wrong watching the classic films Roman Holiday (1953) and La Dolce Vita (1960).
