'A warm summer breeze lifts pale blue sheets and a host of marshmallow clouds float over my balcony.'The Ghosts of Italy is Angela Paolantonio's memoir of how she first discovers and then returns to live in the remote mountain village in Southern Italy where her grandparents were born. She sets out late one November, just after having celebrated Thanksgiving alone on a rooftop in Rome, the spirit of her ancestors guiding her in. "I really didn't know I was searching for anything till I got here," she says. "Then I realized what I was missing and what it meant."Angela Paolantonio's archetypal journey to the village of the ghosts of her ancestors is a unique yet universal woman's story. She ventures across the threshold of a lost world, reclaims it, and falls deeply in love along the way – with the town and its residents, the landscape, and the Handsome Man from Macchiursi. She follows the clues to rediscover her spirit and the spirit of her grandmother, and namesake, whose memory had been lost to her, locked inside her father's heart.The Ghosts of Italy opens with Angela's daydream of one day owning a stone house on an Italian hillside, sheep grazing below her balcony. 'Now I have them in view.' Then wistfully, 'But it's not just any view. It's the balcony view of my grandmother's youth.'With good timing, Angela ends up buying the very house where her grandmother was born, made of fieldstone set by hand by her great-grandfather, with the beautiful view, kept in the family for generations. But will she trade a career in Los Angeles to live the Roseto Mystery? The mingling of a journey to find ancestral roots with a rustic love story, plenty of local color, and excellent descriptions of Italian cuisine, result in an intriguing and passionate memoir. — Publishers Weekly, Book Life Prize 2020 Those looking for moving stories of discovery and family heritage, as well as love, will find The Ghosts of Italy excels in its ability to introduce the spirit of not only a family, but a nation. It's a memoir well worth the read. — D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review This memoir takes you on an unforgettable journey to a quiet village in Southern Italy. — Goodreads Review The Ghosts of Italy: A Memoir documents Angela Paolantonio's return to her Italian roots during a visit to a mountain village, the home of her grandparents, that becomes her home as well. As much a travelogue and celebration of Italian culture and countryside as it is a memoir about a striking personal journey that resulted in fresh connections to a new place, The Ghosts of Italy is a delightful, atmospheric read for anyone interested in returning to one's roots and exploring heritage in another country. Paolantonio opens her journey with a present-day observation of its culmination: "I dared dream years ago, conjuring an image of one day living in a stone house on a hillside in Italy, a flock of sheep grazing in a field beyond a balcony. Well, now I have them in view. Yet it is not just any view, nor any stone house on a hillside in Italy. It is the house where my grandmother was born, the balcony view of her youth." With this, readers embark a journey that embraces the expedition, the destination, and the meaning of family connections alike in a memoir that celebrates all this and more. As readers follow Paolantonio's revised life, they receive a fine discussion of losses, gains, and perseverance in the face of defeat. Black and white photos illustrate her words, while the magic of red fox, gray wolves, and dancing leaves comes to life. The experience is not without its classic Italian romance as she widens her world and embraces family and new experiences alike. Perhaps the most striking facet of this memoir lies in its ability to traverse the Italian countryside with a sense of determined purpose as Paolantonio evolves a relationship that will eventually challenge her relationships with her relatives and the town. Readers breathe in the heart and soul of Italian culture and countryside and absorb the revised life of a woman who must decide where her heart truly lies. The discoveries that evolved from a search for the spirit of a grandmother go in unexpected directions, providing a moving saga that embraces the author and her readers to the end. Those looking for moving stories of discovery and family heritage, as well as love, will find The Ghosts of Italy excels in its ability to introduce the spirit of not only a family, but a nation. It's a memoir well worth the read. — D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review I loved this book, which made me want to get on a plane to Italy. It will appeal to lovers of Italy and travelers with curiosity in their minds, some romance in their souls, and a belief in the ties of family, even those yet unmet. I think the kind of women I write for on my blog, nomad women . com, will love it as much as I did. — Donna Meyer for Nomad Women In her two lush memoirs— The