My Year with the Italian Girl by Linda Leuzzi
On Tour 24th – 28thJuly 2023
Publication Day: 28th July 2022
It’s 1985. The Bellport Evening Star, a weekly community paper headed by its sassy editor Vivian Allegra, covers both the humorous and serious issues that regularly erupt in this small village. When she agrees to host a teen exchange student from Catania for a year, Francesca, who descriptively discusses her ancient home city and is hilarious in her observations of American life and who teams up with Black student Keisha with her beautiful Broadway dancer aunt for the upcoming Step competition, life starts taking off.
Actually it does for all of them. These are three strong women who in their own voices, fight to achieve their goals, which includes the community that helps them.
Add a burgeoning local environmental issue with alarming threats to Vivian, a bit of magical realism, and a handsome Brit neighbor who has his eye on recently divorced Vivian and things get pretty interesting.
Who’s mysteriously threatening Vivian?
Will the Wiley property be saved?
Will the Step Squad win the Regional competition?
And will Vivian let down her guard with sweet Ian?
This uplifting story about small town life presents the workings of a weekly paper, different cultures, and what happens when belief in one’s self persists.
Meet Linda Leuzzi
Linda Leuzzi is an award-winning journalist, editor and author of non-fiction books for young adults, two of which garnered New York Public Library citations.
She interned with Newsday early in her career, freelanced for them for several years, then became a reporter and then editor for three community newspapers. Stories for the Long Island Advance, Suffolk County News, and Islip Bulletin have won 19 New York Press Association Awards including First Place mentions for In-Depth Reporting, Spot News, Coverage of the Arts, and Spot News Photo. She’s won two Third Place Sharon Fullmer Awards for Community Leadership for team coverage of LGBTQ+ issues.
Her many celebrity interviews have included Isabella Rossellini, Chazz Palminteri, Bernadette Peters, Sara Jean Ford, Melissa Errico, choreographer Randy Skinner as well as Nobel Prize and MacArthur Award scientists. Community awards include Woman of Diversity for the Of Colors Black History celebration, Brookhaven Town’s Outstanding Service in Media/Communications and a Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts honor for her stories.
After stepping aside as editor for the Long Island Advance, Linda subs when needed and is a weekly Contributing Writer and now also contributes to the Fire Island News. She is a Sayville Rotarian and hosted seven Rotary exchange students with her husband.
A lover of British series, foreign films, Turner Classic Movies, PBS, Broadway, Gateway musicals and Patchogue Theatre concerts, as well as European travel to Paris, London, Prague and other gorgeous places, Linda has a St. John’s University journalism degree and is always thinking of stories walking with her rescue dog Tina.