Three Dreamers: A Memoir of Family
Apr 2021 · Sold by Ballantine Books
5.0star
3 reviews
Ebook
240
Pages
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About this ebook
“As nourishing as a three-course Italian feast, this is a fierce, moving tribute to the ties that bind.”—People (Book of the Week)
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sleepers offers a heartfelt homage to the women who taught him courage, kindness, and the power of storytelling: his mother, his grandmother, and his late wife.
Standing with his children near his grandmother’s grave on a recent trip to Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples, Lorenzo Carcaterra realized how much of his life has been shaped by the women who taught him how to look for joy and overcome sorrow. This book is his tribute to them.
Nonna Maria, his grandmother, gave him his first taste of a loving home during the summers he spent with her as a teenager on Ischia. With her kindness, her humor, and the same formidable strength she employed to make secret trips for food when the Nazis occupied Ischia during World War II, she instilled in him the importance of community, providing shelter for a boy whose home life was difficult.
His mother, Raffaela, dealt with daily hardships: a loveless and abusive marriage, the burden of debt, and a life of dread. Though the lessons she taught were harsh, they would drive Lorenzo from the world they shared to the better one she always prayed he would find.
The third woman is his wife, Susan, a gifted editor and his professional champion. Their marriage lasted three decades before her death from lung cancer in 2013. While their upbringings were wildly different, their love and friendship never wavered—and neither did her faith in Lorenzo’s talent and potential as a writer.
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sleepers offers a heartfelt homage to the women who taught him courage, kindness, and the power of storytelling: his mother, his grandmother, and his late wife.
Standing with his children near his grandmother’s grave on a recent trip to Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples, Lorenzo Carcaterra realized how much of his life has been shaped by the women who taught him how to look for joy and overcome sorrow. This book is his tribute to them.
Nonna Maria, his grandmother, gave him his first taste of a loving home during the summers he spent with her as a teenager on Ischia. With her kindness, her humor, and the same formidable strength she employed to make secret trips for food when the Nazis occupied Ischia during World War II, she instilled in him the importance of community, providing shelter for a boy whose home life was difficult.
His mother, Raffaela, dealt with daily hardships: a loveless and abusive marriage, the burden of debt, and a life of dread. Though the lessons she taught were harsh, they would drive Lorenzo from the world they shared to the better one she always prayed he would find.
The third woman is his wife, Susan, a gifted editor and his professional champion. Their marriage lasted three decades before her death from lung cancer in 2013. While their upbringings were wildly different, their love and friendship never wavered—and neither did her faith in Lorenzo’s talent and potential as a writer.
Ratings and reviews
5.0
3 reviews
brf1948
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April 27, 2021
I received a free electronic copy of this excellent memoir from Netgalley, Lorenzo Carcaterra, and Ballantine Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Three Dreamers of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am happy to recommend anything by Lorenzo Carcaterra to friends and family. He has a wonderful imagination. Three Dreamers is a family memoir from the author of Tin Badges, Payback, and many more police procedurals and thrillers we have all enjoyed over the last few years. It is a homage to the three women who shaped him into the Lorenzo Carcaterra that we know and love today through his works. The love and respect he felt for his Nonna Maria, his mother Raffaela, and his wife Susan are obvious on every page. And his memories of growing up in NYC and those few summers he was able to spend on the Italian island of Ischia, take us back to another time, another way of life. This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed.
Edward Graham
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April 24, 2021
Three Women Who Created This Man This is a fascinating memoir about a self-made man and the women who influenced his life. This guy had a tremendously difficult upbringing and his grandmother was one of his most positive influencers. His mother also added a lot to the man he would become. And finally, his wife who was his best friend and trusted colleague. Part of me could not believe how he was raised and in such conditions. Having grown up in the same era, I could understand some of it, but not the position his mother took. Part of this story was a huge eye-opener. This is a fascinating book that I read in one sitting because I could just not put it down. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.
About the author
Lorenzo Carcaterra is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Safe Place, Sleepers, Apaches, Gangster, Street Boys, Paradise City, Chasers, Midnight Angels, The Wolf, Tin Badges, and Payback. He is a former writer/producer for Law & Order and has written for National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times Magazine, Details, and Maxim. He lives in New York City and is at work on his next novel.
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