The Weight of Salt: A Gripping Story of Love and Courage. offres (Angelina Pirrello

THE WEIGHT OF SALTA Gripping Story of Love and Courage.Florida, 1906 - In the northeast section of Tampa, called Ybor City and known as The Cigar Capital of the World, comes an intimate part of American history that is seldom found in books and susceptible to be forgotten.Although fiction, The Weight of Salt is inspired by a real person, a real time, and real events. Fifteen-year-old, Angelina Pirrello is bright and excited for her life to begin when she is abruptly torn from her mothers love and is left to abide by her fathers rigid Italian beliefs. It is the era of unprecedented immigration, the Mafia is terrorizing Italian neighborhoods and store owners, and the fierce fight of the Suffragettes to gain the vote for women.It is a time when dreams of American freedoms are celebrated and threatened. The old world across the sea clashes with the new, and a young girl must make a choice to fortify or forfeit her spirit. Yet, in the midst of the biggest fire in Floridas history, and the loss of legions of cigar factories, amid the chaos, Angelina unexpectedly encounters Rolando and soon discovers the force of falling in love. Yet, her dreams are quickly shattered when her father ignores her desire to marry for love and promises her hand in an arranged marriage to an older man she dislikes.This novel touches on every human emotion, love, joy, heartbreak, passion, and the unexpected. Only because those who lived this story have passed away and cannot testify, this novel is historical fiction and not simply historical fact.With powerful insight and sensitivity, Sandra Montaninos debut novel illuminates this long-ago story. She brings us a beautiful, warm, inspiring, yet heartbreakingly novel that celebrates the resilience of one girl. This is a novel for everyone and a tribute to those who lived through it all and those that told and retold their story.Winner of the Southern California Writers Conference "Outstanding Fiction Award."

By the age of eight, Sandra Montanino, lived in three different countries. Born into a large Italian, Basque, and Panamanian family, these rich exposures immersed her into a wealth of cultures, languages, provincial superstitions, and an endless fascination with her family of storytellers. The stories enriched her life and ignited her imagination.The Original Recipe was an article featured in Ancestry Magazine about her familys obsession with "who makes the best pasta sauce." Sandra found that her treasure chest of tales, mystical superstitions, adventures, and wisdom came from her own family and she has committed to print for everyone to enjoy. Sandras longtime husband Gennaro comes from a family originating in Naples and was born into the immigrant world of Manhattans Little Italy.From his experiences and those of his family, she is now compiling these stories for another book. Together she and her husband have five children and fourteen grandchildren and while they lived in Southern California for most of their lives, they now reside in Provo, Utah.