Email Lsprague@enfield.org for a Zoom invitation.

Join Linda for a Zoom program about her book Across the Table.

When Navy Seabee Al Dante returns to Boston in 1945 after serving in World War II, his homecoming is not what he nor his wife imagined.

Although he survived the bombing of his destroyer in the South Pacific, his injuries left him with shattered bones, a withered arm and a crushed spirit. The two-and-a half-year-old son he has never seen runs away from him in fear.  His wife, only a girl when he left, has borne and nurtured their child and made her way in the world.  After three years of keeping to themselves the fear and loneliness and longing they had faced alone, they no longer know each other.

Can a restaurant called “Paradiso,” the evocative power of food lovingly prepared, and the resilience of a passionate, street-smart Italian girl rekindle a love challenged by separation, infidelity and loss? Will it sustain and nourish her family as it lives through the upheaval of the last half of America’s twentieth century?

An unforgettable story of family and forgiveness, loyalty and love.

LINDA CARDILLO is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Dancing on Sunday Afternoons (2007, 2016), Across the Table (2010), The Boat House Café (2014), The Uneven Road (2016), Island Legacy (2017) and Love That Moves the Sun (2018), as well as two novellas, children’s fiction and a cookbook. With Ann DeFee, Linda is the co-founder of Bellastoria Press an independent publisher of beautiful stories for all ages—books about women with grit and gifts, who not only survive but flourish; and wildly imaginative and colorful children’s picture books. Bellastoria Press books have been called everything from lyrical and sparkling to quirky and laugh-out-loud. Readers will find stories told from the heart, with an eye for vivid detail, an ear for snappy dialog and a funny bone that gets exercised regularly.