Becoming Italian

“A touching, heartfelt story of growing up in a home of secrets and silence. Linda Dini Jenkins bravely probes deep into her past to understand the complex legacy of her Italian father and English-Irish mother. Slowly, sometimes painfully, she finds understanding and strength in her Italian roots. Her struggle and ultimate self-acceptance will inspire all—not just Italian Americans—who have experienced stigma and even shame because of their ethnicity. By choosing to “become Italian,” Linda chose to grow into her fullest self. Brava, Linda!

— Dianne Hales, author of La Passione, La Bella Lingua, and Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered

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“I love the “arc” that Linda Dini Jenkins creates in her latest book, Becoming Italian: Chapter and Verse From an Italian American Girl. Like braided Easter bread, the words and imagery create a golden heat, speckled with Rosary beads, inherited knives sharp enough to slice a tomato thin enough to see through, a gold-leaf frame. This is a book of discovery, where the speaker stares clear-eyed at class distinctions, misogyny, regret, and ultimately, love. Becoming Italian is a book that resonates; it is a book that deals with truths; and a book that completes the circle, that assures us, “All will be well. All will be well.”

— Jennifer Martelli, author of In the Year of Ferraro, The Queen of Queens, and My Tarantella

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Dini Jenkins

Linda Dini Jenkins is a poet and essayist. She is the author of Journey of a Returning Christian: Writing into God (Chalice Press), Up at the Villa: Travels with my Husband (Great Little Books), and Becoming Italian: Chapter and Verse from an Italian American Girl (Travel Italy the Write Way). Her poetry has been published in VIA (Voices in Italian Americana), Ovunque Siamo, Vermont Voices, South Florida Poetry Review, Phoebe, Poeti italo-americani e italo-canadesi, Tampa Review, and Peregrine. She is the author of the play, Things I Never Told My Mother and is co-author, with Barbara Worton, of the play/choreopoem, If I’m Talking, Why Aren’t You Listening? She lives in Salem, Massachusetts and Sulmona, Italy.