Elizabeth Street (2010) (edit title/settings)

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• Giovanna Costa: The main character, an Italian woman who moves to New York City when devastating news is brought about her husband, Nunzio.
• Rocco Siena: A widower and friend of Lorenzo & Teresa.
• Lorenzo Costa: Giovanna's brother, who lives with his family in New York City.
• Teresa Costa: Lorenzo's wife and Giovanna's sister-in-law.
• Nunzio Pontillo: Giovanna's husband, who moved from Italy to New York City to raise enough money for his family to come, he dies before this can happen. Also Giovanna's cousin.
• Angelina Siena: Giovanna & Rocco's daughter.
• Lucrezia Lamanna: Lucrezia is a doctor living in New York who is originally from Northern Italy. She becomes Giovanna's confidant. To Giovanna she is a role model and she represents the opportunity that America presents. At that time, the idea of a woman attending medical school, not to speak of practicing as a professional, is beyond Giovanna's childhood dreams. She learns much from Giovanna's midwifery experience. She is very forward-thinking, and despite her training in conventional medicine, is open to learning about herbal remedies and homeopathy. In turn she teaches Giovanna all she knows about obstetrics.
• Domenico Costa: Giovanna's father. Also the name of Lorenzo's son.
• Concetta Costa: Giovanna's mother.
• Lupo: Add a description of this character.
• Petrosino: Italian detective in America. Name means parsley.
• Mary Siena
• Leo
• Signora Scalici: Midwife Giovanna worked with in Scylla.
• Frances Siena
• Clement Siena
• Carmine: "Saint Carmine." Worked with Nunzio as a laborer in Brooklyn.
• Giuseppe
• Bingham
• Messina
• Signore DeCegli: Italian lawyer in Brooklyn.
• Marianna
• Detective Fiaschetti
• Anthony
• Dr. Bellantoni
• Tommaso
• Joe
• Mulligan
• Salvatore
• Mariano
• Wood
• Enrico
• Edwin Reese
• Reggio
• Carmela
• Papa
• Claudia
• Dominick
• Manzella
• Molfetti
• Signora Russo
• Vittorio
• Gallucci
• Pietro Inzerillo
• Antonio

Quotes edit see section history

• “How come they tax my mule but not their rich friends' cows? I'm not stupid!”

• “Were life not currently a contest for survival, it would have been unthinkable to hear a husband encouraging his wife to become a doctor. But in times of turmoil, tradition became a detail.”

• “But cholera turned out to be an overture to a tragic opera where events spiraled out of control and the audience was left trying to keep track of the villians.”

• “Sundays were the only day of the week that "joba" was not worshipped.The women went to chruch and cooked and the men gambled and relaxed in the cafes.It was the one day of thw week to be an indivdual.The man in the apartment on the first floor played his mandolin when the Sunday meal ended until the fris tbambini were put to sleep.”

• “people who love one another always find each other somehow”

• “Italians being used as slave labor and the many deaths in the tunnels they were building for the underground trains”

• “Italians entering Ellis Island are considered to be of two races.A race from the North and a race from the South.The Northerners are classified "white" and the southerners "in-betweeners".”

• “My husband comfortably distances himself from the slurs,the accidents,the inequities because he sees himself as a different race".”

• “They embraced, crying and laughing, and then knelt on the frozen ground and prayed.”

• “She also said to tell you that when people love each other, they always find each other in the end.”

  Claudia (quoting Lucrezia)

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• ‘Tra una pietra ed un posto duro’—‘Between a rock and a hard place.’”

  Highlighted by 140 Kindle customers

• pezzo di cielo caduto in terra—piece of heaven fallen to earth.

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• She also said to tell you that when people love each other, they always find each other in the end.”

  Highlighted by 111 Kindle customers

• “Chi ha denaro ed amicizia va nel culo della giustizia”—“he who has money and friends fucks justice in the ass.”

  Highlighted by 89 Kindle customers

• He was the idealist with little faith, and she was the pragmatist who believed in miracles. Nunzio dreamt and Giovanna prayed.

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• Giovanna thought about how tragedies knitted themselves into your soul when there was a connection—no matter how tenuous. If you walked down a street where a murder had occurred, or studied a country where there was a famine, all of a sudden the horror became your own.

  Highlighted by 78 Kindle customers

• “Italians entering Ellis Island are considered to be of two races. A race from the north and a race from the south. The northerners are classified ‘white’ and the southerners ‘in-betweeners.’ Of course, in Italy, the northerners simply call you peasants or Africans.

  Highlighted by 72 Kindle customers

• What intrigued her most, however, were the plaster walls and wood trim painted to look like marble or granite. In this America, even if you didn’t have something, you simply created its facsimile. On the surface, nothing would be denied you in America.

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• “When I’m gone, if you need me, or if your children need me, or even their children, you’ll always know that I am there. You see, Angelina, people who love one another always find each other somehow.”

  Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers

• culo hurt. Giovanna passed the row holding Nunzio’s sister, Fortunata, her pregnant belly, and six children. The older boys, Orazio and Raffaele, were already fishermen. They stood tall next to their lean, muscular father, Giuseppe Arena. Fortunata’s youngest boy, Antonio, waved to Giovanna from the pew. Giovanna was also conscious of who was missing. In her mind she placed her brother, Lorenzo,

  Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Scilla, Calabria, Italy
• New York, NY
• America
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Hoboken
• Chianalea
• Mulberry Street
• Naples
• Sicily
• City Hall
• San Giorgio
• Luna Park
• church of the pescatori, Santa Maria de Porto Salvo
• Lower East Side

Organizations edit see section history

• Black Hand: The precursor to the Mafia.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Ammoratas: Italian-American slang for: girlfriends.
• Cafone: Crude person.
• Gombada: Italian-American slang for: friend who's like family.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Laurie Fabiano (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3606.A243 E45
• Dewey: 813

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

More Books Like This edit see section history