Bestselling author Adriana Trigiani returns to the small-town dramas of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where she weaves a complicated web around middle-aged mom Ave Maria Machesney. Having just returned from her daughter?s wedding in Italy, Ave Maria is experiencing a serious bout of empty-nest syndrome. But she doesn?t have long to wallow, as her life is soon thrown into even further upheaval. Her husband falls ill, she's put at the helm of the town?s winter musical, and some close friends start to reveal long-buried secrets about her past. This is a tender, humorous look at a woman struggling to not only put her life back together, but to build a new one at the same time.

Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney confronts dramatic changes in her life--her daughter's marriage and move to Italy, her husband's new job, and a mysterious stranger with a long-buried secret--as she must come to terms with the past in order to build a new life for herself, in a novel that features the familiar and zany characters of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. (General Fiction)

Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney confronts dramatic changes in her life--her daughter's marriage and move to Italy, her husband's new job, and a mysterious stranger with a long-buried secret--as she must come to terms with the past in order to build a new life for herself, in a novel that features the familiar and zany characters of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. (General Fiction)