The Ice-Cream Makers
A Novel
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In this “moving story of how sacrifices accumulate in the wake of passions left unfulfilled” (Publishers Weekly)—perfect for fans of Fredrik Backman and Lisa Genova—a poet must decide if he should put his family’s or his own needs first when he returns to Italy help run the family business he left behind years ago.
As the heir to a proud Northern Italian ice-cream dynasty, Giovanni Talamini’s family is none too happy when he decides to break with tradition and travel the world as a poet. So when Giovanni receives an unexpected call from his brother, he is faced with a difficult decision: return home to serve in his family’s interests or continue on his own path in life once and for all?
In a heartwarming tale that weaves history with lore and poetry with delicious recipes, The Ice-Cream Makers paints a century-long, multigenerational portrait of a family wrestling with their identity and how to ensure their legacy. This is a “delightful read; smooth as ice cream on a hot summer day” (Kirkus Reviews).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Van der Kwast (Mama Tandoori) returns to themes of family, legacy, and tradition in this novel about a poet returning home to Northern Italy to help run his family's ice cream company. The Calamine family has been in the ice cream business for three generations, making yearly trips to the Netherlands to sell hand-churned ice cream ever since Giovanni Calamine's great-grandfather started the business, establishing their strong reputation on these seasonal trips. Ice cream has been the family's passion for decades, and when Giovanni decides that he wants something else for his life, his father and brother see the choice as a betrayal of a family legacy. Van der Kwast jumps around the Calamine family tree to reveal a complex web of duty and love that ties the family to the dream of the original patriarch and uncovers how that dream has transformed through the years. Although plot takes a back seat to a thoughtful portrait of the family, van der Kwast ultimately tells a moving story of how sacrifices accumulate in the wake of passions left unfulfilled.
