The Queen of the Big Time
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Cassandra Campbell
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By:
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Adriana Trigiani
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A heartfelt novel of the power of love across three generations of an Italian-American family, from the author of the Big Stone Gap series
“[An] epic of small-town life . . . A personal saga of American history and a romance woven together with warmth and good humor.”—The Oregonian
In the late 1800s, the residents of a small village in coastal Italy migrated to the promised land of America. They eventually settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, where they re-created every detail of their former lives, including the centerpiece of Roseto’s colorful old-world tradition: the annual pageant for Our Lady of Mount Caramel—or “the Big Time,” as it’s called by the young women competing to be its Queen.
The industrious Castellucas farm the land outside Roseto. Nella, the middle daughter of five, aspires to a genteel life “in town,” far from the rigors of life on the farm. But her dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets and falls in love with Renato Lanzaro, a worldly, handsome, devil-may-care poet. When Renato disappears without explanation, Nella is shattered.
Four years later, Renato’s sudden return just before Nella’s wedding to the steadfast Franco Zollerano leaves her shaken. For although Renato has chosen a path very different from Nella’s, they are fated to live and work side by side for the rest of their lives in Roseto, where the past hangs over them like a brewing storm.
Etched in glorious detail in Adriana Trigiani’s trademark style, The Queen of the Big Time is the story of a determined, passionate woman who can never forget her first love.
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Critic reviews
“Pure pleasure. . . full-bodied and elegantly written.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Moving and poignant . . . Trigiani has again defied categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a women’s novelist. She is an amazing young talent.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“[The Queen of the Big Time] will make you smile and reminisce about gentler, more civil times in small-town and rural America.”—The Boston Globe
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Bezellia Grove was born into the most prominent of Nashville families, but that didn’t stop her from having an alcoholic mother and a distant, adulterous father. Her nanny, Maizelle, and Nathaniel, the handyman, are the people who have taken care of her since she can remember. She considers them family, but her parents just consider them servants because they are Black. When Bezellia has a clandestine romance with Nathaniel's son, Whites and Blacks unite in fury at the young couple.
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light southern fiction
- By suzanne on 02-08-13
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The Homeplace
- Singing River, Book 1
- By: Gilbert Morris
- Narrated by: Judith West
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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As the year 1928 begins, 14-year-old Lanie Belle Freeman of Fairhope, Arkansas, has bright hopes for the future. Her father has launched a new business, and her mother is expecting her fifth baby. Lanie has dreams of going to college and being a writer. Then tragedy strikes.
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Slow to start. But hang in there. It’s worth it
- By paula wright on 02-24-19
By: Gilbert Morris
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Very Valentine
- A Novel (Valentine Trilogy, Book 1)
- By: Adriana Trigiani
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The adventures of an extraordinary and unforgettable woman as she attempts to rescue her family’s struggling shoe business and find love at the same time, Very Valentine sweeps the listener from the streets of Manhattan to the picturesque hills of Italy.
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Meh... that's all I can say
- By Tammie on 08-17-23
By: Adriana Trigiani
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Maude
- By: Donna Mabry
- Narrated by: Shana Gagnon
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1906 I was barely over 14 years old, and it was my wedding day. My older sister, Helen, came to my room, took me by the hand, and sat me down on the bed. She said, "You've always been a good girl, Maude, and done what I told you. Now you're going to be a married woman, and he will be the head of the house. When you go home tonight after your party, no matter what he wants to do to you, you have to let him do it. Do you understand?"
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Narration made listening almost unbearable
- By Sandra on 01-07-16
By: Donna Mabry
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The Moonflower Vine
- A Novel
- By: Jetta Carleton
- Narrated by: Natalie Ross
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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On a farm in western Missouri, during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy’s fate will be the family’s greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive - and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.
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I didn't want it to end!!!
- By Amanda H. on 01-20-21
By: Jetta Carleton
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Gone with the Wind
- By: Margaret Mitchell
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 49 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Margaret Mitchell's great novel of the South is one of the most popular books ever written. Within six months of its publication in 1936, Gone With the Wind had sold a million copies. To date, it has been translated into 25 languages, and more than 28 million copies have been sold. Here are the characters that have become symbols of passion and desire....
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not to miss audible experience
- By dallas on 12-08-09
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The Choice
- Lancaster County Secrets, Book 1
- By: Suzanne Woods Fisher
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Lancaster County has always been her home - but where does her heart belong? One moment Carrie Weaver was looking forward to running away with Lancaster Barnstormers pitcher Solomon Riehl - plans that included leaving the Amish community where they grew up. But the next moment she was staring into a future as broken as her heart....
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Literary Amish Story
- By Carrie Fancett Pagels on 11-29-11
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The Waiting
- The True Story of a Lost Child, a Lifetime of Longing, and a Miracle for a Mother Who Never Gave Up
- By: Cathy LaGrow, Cindy Coloma - contributor
- Narrated by: Pamela Klein
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1928, sixteen-year-old Minka was looking forward to a sewing class picnic. This would be a rare chance to put aside farm chores, don a pretty dress, and enjoy an outing with other girls. It would be a day to remember. And it was - but not in the way Minka had dreamed. Cornered by a stranger in the woods, the young girl was assaulted. Minka still believed that the stork brought babies; she would not discover for months that she was pregnant.
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Captivating and fantastic
- By John alexander on 10-03-19
By: Cathy LaGrow, and others
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Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
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MORRISON AT HER MOST COMPLEX
- By Kennedi Hill on 11-07-19
By: Toni Morrison
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Winter Collection
- Six Historical Short Stories (A Timeless Romance Anthology, Book 1)
- By: Sarah M. Eden, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, and others
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Six award-winning authors have contributed brand new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection. A collection unlike any other, listeners will love this compilation of six sweet historical romance novellas, set in varying eras, yet all with one thing in common: Romance.
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Winter
- By Manila J. Dobbs on 08-12-23
By: Sarah M. Eden, and others
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Grand Central
- Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion
- By: Melanie Benjamin, Amanda Hodgkinson, Pam Jenoff, and others
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through New York City's Grand Central Terminal, through the whispering gallery, beneath the ceiling of stars, and past the information booth and its beckoning four-faced clock, to whatever destination is calling them. It is a place where people come to say hello and good-bye. And each person has a story to tell.
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Grand Central: Memories
- By ZacharyKindle Customer on 05-03-17
By: Melanie Benjamin, and others
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What listeners say about The Queen of the Big Time
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Susan
- 07-28-04
What a lovely book
I enjoyed this book very much. The main character, Nella, gives the story of her life starting at the age of 14. Her feelings and relationships are well developed. The narrator has a very smooth voice and add an Italian accent when it is called for. She reads the book much the way I would have. This is definitely a book I plan to listen to again, from time to time.
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8 people found this helpful
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- bette clower
- 01-22-19
Italy in America
To me this was about family and lots of love. The scene in the middle of the night and elephants raising the big tent that Franco took his family to see was so heartwarming. We have lost those days.
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- Mickey M
- 04-20-21
Beautiful family saga
I love how she develops each character and weaves them into a can’t-wait-to-get-back-to story. No book of hers has ever disappointed me. Thank you, Adriana.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Teresa
- 08-02-04
Excellent book - bad synopsis on this site
This is a terrific book (as are all of Adriana Trigiani's books). She's a fabulous storyteller.
I wanted to make note here that the description of this book, as it appears here on audible.com, has a lot of errors in it. Nella is not the eldest (which is important to the story), she's the middle of 5 girls. And the so-called "rumors" of Lanzara's disappearance are also wrongly described here. I won't spoil it, but felt these errors should be noted.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Joanna
- 09-05-04
Excellent
I couldn't stop listening. The story made me feel as if I went back in time of my own family's upbringing, traditions and loyalties. Very touching.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Patricia B Tripoli
- 07-04-05
Highly Recommend
Although I enjoyed "Lucia, Lucia" more than this book, it is still worth anyone's time and money to get this title. Probably what I found to be most significant is that a story can still be enjoyable without sex and vulgarity weaved in every other thought.
The characters have their difficulties and are not all lily-white. And that is the beauty of the story-telling. The narration parallels this well. This family does not always get along with each other. Events do not always go as planned. The main character is not the best mother there ever was. Yet their story is told for us to learn from and enjoy.
Make it an enjoyable listen by choosing this book. You won't regret it. I just wish audible would offer an unabridged version of The Stone Gap.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Taryn
- 01-06-09
Wonderful characters
I love Adriana's work. In all her books she developes her characters so well that they seem like they were your aunts or uncles! Real people living ordinary lives. Being of Italian heritage myself,her writing really does describe what it's like to be part of a big Italian family. Lucia Lucia was another favorite of mine.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Karen F
- 08-25-12
Soul searching story - don't miss it!
This book was awesome. This was not your run of the mill story where everything turns out with what the reader expects. It was like the kind of experiences that meet us in real life - not always what we want, but what we are forced to face. And it was told in such a way that kept my interest and piqued my interest the more I listened. It made my think about my own life and what things I have that I don't always cherish. Not many books will bring tears to my eyes, but this one did at the end. This book definitely makes my top 10 list; I would highly recommend it. And as an added bonus the narrator was superb!
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- DIANE
- 01-15-14
Another great family saga
Which character – as performed by Cassandra Campbell – was your favorite?
I think I enjoyed Nella's mother and father the most, with the thick Italian accent. Cassandra gives the Italian accent a realistic slant and she is easy to listen to. Her voice is soft yet crisp.
Any additional comments?
Queen of the Big Time was an odd title for this book as it referred to a contest that the protagonist's niece entered rather late in the book. I don't think I would have given the book that title. More likely, I would have named the book The Nella Blouse Factory. (a la The Supreme Macaroni Company). I really enjoy Adriana Trigiani's writing style and really love the Italian families she portrays. From the epilogue and interview at the end of this audiobook, it is clear that this book was taken from Ms. Trigiani's own family story. My only criticism of this book is that this is the third book written by the author in which the protagonists's husband dies. (The Shoemaker's Wife, Brava Valentine are two others)
It's almost at the point where I would expect it in the next book I read. However, the characters are very real and well developed. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read.
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- Maryann Penner
- 07-09-22
Enjoy the characters depth and their misgivings
I am not Italian but as a child I spent one Easter Sunday with a big Italian family. To this day I still remember so many of the numerous details because it was such an experience. This author captures the heart and soul of family dynamics. She makes me wish I was from a large Italian family.
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