The View From Lake Como
Jess was a 34 year old woman living in her parents basement in Lake Como, NJ after her recent divorce. She was employed by her Uncle Louie, the owner of a marble supply business. She and her uncle were close but she was shocked after he died and she learned he left her in charge of his business.
They had discussed going to Italy together to explore the area that supplied the marble right before his death. Her grandparents had emigrated from that area many years before.
As Jess was sorting through her uncle’s papers she made several discoveries. One of them was an illegal offshore corporation that her uncle used to evade taxes. Soon government inspectors discovered it as well.
Then there were a couple tickets to Italy made out in both their names.
Jess helped the IRS and FBI with the illegal money problem. She also decided to travel to Italy alone to discover her roots. What she found there changed her life. The trip by herself also helped her with her personal problems.
I enjoyed this book as it gave a realistic view of the lives of Italian American family members. One of the two settings was the NJ Shore, an area with which I am familiar.
I received this ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The View From Lake Como
By: Adriana Trigiani
Pub Date: July 8, 2025
Publisher: Dutton
Tour: MB Communications

Hard to believe this is my first novel by this author. I have so many friends who enjoy her novels. I am so glad I was able to read this novel with MB Communications. Finding new-to-me authors is always fun!

I never knew there was a Lake Como, NJ so imagine my surprise when this novel opens up with a NJ city. I have been to a few places in NJ and was introduced to White Castle hamburgers and the quaint village of Mount Tabor and several towns filled with Victorian homes.
Jess Capodimonte Baratta is recently divorced to Bobby and she is at a crossroads. She has always been the dutiful, but overlooked daughter. She has a unique job as a draftswoman in a marble business working with her uncle Louie, who adores her.

When her and her ex’s family endure a tragic loss, they discover long lost secrets and Jess starts to question everything she knows.
She does end up in Tuscany and finds more than she ever imagined. I can tell the author is Italian as it takes the readers on a wonderful journey into the land of Italy. I have been fortunate to go to Italy and it sparks some nice memories for me.

Thank you MB Communications for having me on tour with Trigiani’s beautiful book.

The View from Lake Como is an absolutely amazing read! I loved the entire book from start to finish! Adriana captures the attention of the reader from the very first sentence and holds it until the last word on the page. The characters grow in your heart as you continue reading and by the end, you are so attached you want more! Somehow she is able to capture every moment of drama, tradition, grief, and love so that the reader experiences alongside Jess, the main character.

The journey Jess took was captivating and emotional, on the way to find who she is and live out her dreams at the same time! This is super close to home for me as I am about to embark on my own journey halfway across the world from my home to achieve my dream of studying abroad. I always love reading books that connect to me in some way, and this is one of those books that has something for everyone!

It felt as though I was in the book experiencing everything alongside everyone. I could taste the food, feel their emotions, and have a true adventure when reading! It is one of those books that you can simply not put down once you pick it up! This is a book for the ages; one that will grow and grow until it is timeless!

Giuseppina (Jess) Capodimonte Baratta is a member of a close knit Italian American family in Lake Como, NJ. Yet, as a divorcee now living in her parents’ basement and seemingly “chief cook and bottle washer”for them, she is unsettled with her life and feels stifled creatively. Working with her Uncle Louie in a family marble business, his death brings some surprising and unsavory news about the business. That, along with a promised trip to Italy from him and a long held secret revealed by her parents causing a rift, provides an opportunity to reset her life. Will traveling to Italy resolve her inner conflicts and mend her and her relationships?

This is the second novel by Trigiani I have read and enjoyed. She has a great way with words, and I like her witty, sometimes biting humor in the midst of the drama of life. She has a good feel for family relationships with all the joy and angst they bring. Her vivid descriptions of Italian life (both in the US and in Italy), transport the reader to the actual locations where one can experience the tastes, smells, climate, the beauty. I liked the subplot addressing the plight of women of a certain age who were too early for the advances brought by the feminist movement. For some, there may be too much time spent on descriptions of all facets of the marble business; to others it will be instructive.

By the way, as a former Jersey resident, I can attest that there really is a Lake Como borough, albeit small, in NJ. It formerly was known as South Belmar and there really is a lake there.

As a girl from Jersey with a crazy, loud, loving Italian family, reading The View from Lake Como felt like coming home. Adriana Trigiani has always had a way of weaving warmth, humor, and truth into her stories, but this book—this one hit something deeper.

It’s not just the setting (though the vivid beauty of Italy practically dances off the page). It’s the people. The voices. The traditions. The drama. The fierce loyalty. The multigenerational love that is sometimes loud, sometimes complicated, but always unshakable. These are the same rhythms I grew up with—the kitchen arguments, the Sunday dinners, the big personalities with even bigger hearts.

Trigiani captures something that’s hard to explain to anyone outside of it: what it feels like to be shaped by a family that gives you everything, whether you ask for it or not. Her characters remind me of my nonna, my cousins, the friends who feel like family, and the way our roots both anchor us and push us to grow.

If you’ve ever been raised on pasta, passion, and family stories that always seem to get a little bigger every time they’re told—this one’s for you.

If you moved Stephanie Plum from Trenton to Lake Como, NJ, she'd fit right in especially coming from a crazy Italian family just like Jess's. Instead of working for her cousin Vinny's bail bonds company, Jess works for the family's marble importing business which has some shady bookkeeping going on thanks to Uncle Louie. Feeling like a failure for divorcing the hunkiest, most-eligible Italian male in the neighborhood and moving back into her parent's basement, Jess is struggling to find her place in the family and in the world. When Uncle Louie promises to take her to Carerra, Italy so she can learn how to run the business, Jess is ready for the adventure. But things don't go as planned and Jess finds herself in Italy by herself with the FBI and the IRS tracking her every move. With laugh-out-loud moments balanced with quiet introspective ones, Trigiani brings to life a New Jersey girl who finds the courage to break free from family obligations and forge a new life for herself --despite the guilt trips placed on her by her loving, overpowering, big New Jersey Italian family. A triumph for Jess and the reader too!

I love Adriana Trigiani's works and have seen her at talks several times. Although this book reads more contemporary than her normal writing, I enjoyed it immensely. It felt like an authentic Italian American family. I devoured it in 2 days and would love more.

📖 Book Review 📖 “A worldview doesn’t do you much good when you live in a small town, unless your passport is current.” Lake Como, NJ may just have a grandiose Italian presence but when the pasta hits the plate, it’s still the Jersey shore. Jess has sacrificed her own dreams and goals, staying close to home and taking care of everyone but herself. Newly divorced from the boy she grew up with and living in her parent’s basement, life feels pretty stagnant until a major loss brings major changes. Can a one way ticket to her ancestral home in Italia bring the shake-up she has been dreaming of? The View from Lake Como is a gripping read about love and loss, generational dreams and drama, and manifesting the existence you deserve. Adriana Trigiani beautifully pens a book that spans generations and continents, with complex layers and characters that will captivate readers to expand horizons. There is no shame in dreaming big and breaking out of places that shape us; and Trigiani finds this sweet balance in growth that stems from expanding our horizons while appreciating our roots.

I've been a big fan of Adriana Trigiani since reading Big Stone Gap and was excited to receive an ARC of her latest, The View From Lake Como. As expected, this one did not disappoint. The settings are beautifully described, and Jess is so relatable. The story pulls you in and embraces you as if you are part of the family. This may be Trigiani's best book yet!
I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I absolutely love this author and have read many of their books
I feel very fortunate to be able to read this

Absolutely loved it
Great characters and a wonderful read

Highly recommend

My favorite stories are told from two perspectives, one past and one present. This book is slightly different being told from two different settings, both Lake Como but one in New Jersey and one in Italy. A book about starting over and second chances, Jess is in the marble business when an unexpected loss hits the family. To Jess, family is everything. The ever dutiful daughter, Jess has to learn of deep family secrets and process that information while coping with her own divorce. I enjoyed this story. It was a slow start for me but I was really invested in Jess and curious to see how her story would evolve. I love all things Italy and Adriana Trigiani's descriptions of Italy were spot on, especially the food. This is a good summer read! Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Group Dutton for the advanced copy.

Adriana Trigiani always tells a great story, but this is one of her very best! Always true to her Italian roots, this story takes us from Lake Como, New Jersey to the one in Italy. The descriptions of the marble, the architecture, the food and everything else come alive. It’s a wonderful story of a woman who is undervalued who creates her best life - and finds love - in Italy. A true gem!

Jess Capodimonte lives in Lake Como New Jersey, a blue collar town. She is recently divorced from Bobby Bilancia and living in her parents' basement. She is s dutiful daughter and works as a draftsman in the marble business run by her uncle Louie. When Louie passes away, long buried secrets are uncovered and Jess goes to her ancestral home, Carrara, Italy to learn more about the business. She meets Angelo Strazzo, an artist working with gold leaf. As she learns more about the business and Louie's shady dealing are being investigated, she learns to reinvent her life.

I absolutely loved this story by Adriana Trigiani! The main character is incredibly relatable, and you find yourself really rooting for her amidst all the family drama. The book also offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of marble, which adds a unique layer to the story in the beautiful setting of Italy.

If you've never lived near or been part of a rousing Italian family, this is your chance!! Adriana Trigiani's "The View From Lake Como" (out July 8) will give you that experience so vividly that you'll laugh out loud, cry and get downright caught up in the lives of the Barattas and Capodimontes!!

I loved Uncle Louie!! Jess Baratta had my backing from the start and I wanted to strangle her mother Philomena, while at the same time remembering she wasn't so different from all the Italian "mamas" I'd grown up near! This is so authentic that I could hear the raucous talk around the table -- accents and all! Adriana did such a masterful job of setting the scene that I could see them; I could hear them and I took sides!! I even wanted to send a few people "to the Island" myself. (You have to read the book to understand that one.)

Newly divorced from a good (and good looking) Italian boy from the neighborhood, Jess is living in her parents' basement which had been refused as a dwelling by her grandmother. Basically the family cook and bottle washer, Jess learns some things about how her parents handled her life and knows she has to find the real Jess and who she was meant to be. She is working hand in hand with her childless Uncle Louie in his family marble business -- Capodimonte Marble and Stone -- when Uncle Louie decides the two of them need to go back to Italy where he learned first hand about working with marble the old way.

Not used to leaving the lifestyle of Lake Como and north Jersey, Jess is nervous; but some revelations about family and Uncle Louie in particular make her determined to go back to her roots. At this point and in several other spots in the book I wondered when Adriana had picked up intrigue writing!! I had to reread a couple of spots! Wait! What?? THAT person did what?!

Jess's life in Italy is romantic, vivid and educational. It's easy to see things I'm sure Adriana has seen many times. Ahhhh .... andJess's view of Lake Como! I could actually visualize it! I wanted to visualize it! I've never been to any place in Italy but Rome and Pompeii. THIS is the Italy my friends and Adriana know!

A perfect summer read? Yes, but also a great look inside a culture -- both in their adopted home and at their roots. And Jess? Did she grow or settle? You'll have to decide.

Nothing brings me greater joy than a new book from Adriana Trigiani, and her newest romantic comedy, The View From Lake Como (publishing July 8th), has all the elements that made her a favorite of mine.

Jess Baratta finds herself living in her parents basement (which doubles as a bonus kitchen and storage unit when "not housing someone old or newly divorced"). She left her husband Bobby after an unfulfilling short marriage, something her mother Philomena, Bobby, and Bobby's mother cannot comprehend.

Jess works for her Uncle Louie owner of Capodimonte Marble and Stone (family owned since 1924). Philomena is currently feuding with her brother and will not speak to him, which makes Sunday family dinners interesting.

Now that Jess is back home, unmarried and childless (unlike her older sister and brother), she finds her role in the family carved in marble- she is cook, maid, babysitter, and driver. She will transition to nurse and caregiver as her parents age, like the maiden Aunt Giuseppina whom she was named after. I liked what the author had to say about how we can get stuck in our family roles, anyone from a large family will be able to relate to that.

When Uncle Louie tells Jess that she is going with him to Italy to meet with marble manufacturers, Jess is beyond thrilled. This is a dream come true for her! But fate intervenes and Jess now has to deal with things she never imagined.

Adriana Trigiani writes such rich, fully developed characters. I loved how you always know what Philomena is thinking (whether you want to or not), and Uncle Louie is quite the snappy dresser who dotes on his wife and niece. The fact that keeps his Knights of Columbus tux and sword in his trunk because he is always going to wakes made me laugh out loud (and if you know, you know).

Many of us would love to have grown up with both sets of grandparents and cousins on the same street, and the dinner and funeral buffet scenes in The View From Lake Como had me wishing I could pull up a chair and pass the ravioli. (No one writes a family dinner scene better than Adriana Trigiani!)

I also enjoyed learning about the marble artists in Italy. I know I will look more closely at the interior of churches after reading this novel.

I loved The View from Lake Como, it's a perfect summer read to toss in your bag as you head to the beach. It will make you smile and laugh out loud at times as Jess attempts to find her place in this world and in her family. Whether you're from a large family or just wish you were, be sure to preorder your copy from your favorite bookseller today.

When it comes to Adriana Trigiani there is not a lot to say except—BUY THIS BOOK! She's an Italian-American storytelling force who never disappoints and always has me anticipating her next book.

Big-hearted family saga along with some self-discovery.
Story at times excruciating within the immediate family setting, but exhilarating once transported abroad.

With thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for this e-ARC.

Another absolutely stellar book by Adriana Trigiani is such a treat for the heart and soul. At times laugh out loud funny , this novel is also insightful and heartbreaking but above all, it is hopeful. All types of relationships are explored….among family, friends, the workplace and of course, romantic ones. Whether you have read everything by this author or this is your first foray you will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.

What a fantastic book! The first one I have read by this author but definitely can't wait to read more! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book. Highly recommend!