Family honor, jealousy, curses and retribution. From mountain villages in the Mezzogiorno to immigrant neighborhoods in America, healers, matriarchs and defiant daughters endure the somber shadows of resentment and suspicion to shape their own victories. Giulia Fiorillo, the youngest daughter in a prominent family in her village, learns from both her mother and her grandmother the divergent ways in which a woman can triumph in a challenging world....

Everyone has secrets, some more than most.Armed with her Irish mother's recipes and a willingness to roll up her sleeves, Mae Keaney retreats to the island of her childhood to escape a shameful and bitter past. After turning an abandoned fishing camp into a successful café, she becomes known for both her pies and her fierce solitude. But when a catastrophic fire threatens her home and livelihood, Mae confronts the reality-and loneliness-of her isolation....

From her restaurant on Boston's Salem Street, and from her own kitchen, Rose Dante has served countless meals and built a tightly knit community of customers, family, and friends. Her daughter Toni tried to create her own life, outside that circle -- only to return with her own daughter when her marriage failed. Now that her daughter, Vanessa, is nearly grown, Toni must face the bitterness of the past in order to taste the sweetness of the future...