*Registration for the virtual program is f ree\; you will receive an email the week of November 16\, 2026\, with logi n information.*
\n**In-person attendance \;at No Thyme to Cook i
n Solomons includes dinner that complements the theme of the book and requ
ires a paid ticket registration. \;
To register &\; pay for in
-person attendance\, please click on the link:
https://www.simpletix.com/e/november-literary-bites-like-wafers-in-hon- tickets-294652
\nThe story opens in the town of Pitigliano\, Ita ly\, once called Little Jerusalem for its vibrant\, centuries-old Jewish c ommunity. But in 1943 Mussolini has enacted anti-Jewish laws across Italy\ , and \; Stella Fortuna's struggles to maintain any sense of their for mer life. Then one night a neighbor comes to their door and tells them &ld quo\;You must leave now. You&rsquo\;re in grave danger.&rdquo\; The Nazis have arrived to help the Fascists of Italy enact their own Final Solution.
\nStella Fortuna escapes into the woods below Pitigliano with her t wo older brothers and younger sister.. What follows is a desperate months- long flight. Stella finds temporary and precarious shelter with sympatheti c\, but fearful families in the countryside\, dodging the ever-closer Fasc ists in pursuit. Meanwhile\, she dreams of romance\, the comforts of home\ , and the food that was not just her mother&rsquo\;s love\, but the delici ous expression of an entire culture in danger.
\nIn a separate timel ine\, Edda Servi Machlin is a housewife in 1960s Westchester trying to mak e sense of a new culture\, as well as the &ldquo\;spaghetti and meatballs& rdquo\; food that passes for Italian cuisine. With caustic wit\, we see tw entieth-century America through an immigrant&rsquo\;s eyes\, someone who c an never return to her former home because it no longer exists. Someone wh o comes to understand that it might be up to her to preserve the indelible flavors of an Italian-Jewish way of life that is in danger of extinction\ , as her family once was.
\nIn between these two remarkable stories are more than forty recipes updated for today's cooks.
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