The ANNOTICO Report

"Rococo" revolves around familiar Adriana Trigiani themes - family,
small-town life, Italian-American culture, romance.

But it is her first with a male protagonist,  Bartolomeo di Crespi, an
interior decorator who has restyled virtually every home in the small
Italian-American village of Our Lady of Fatima, on the Jersey shore.

Nicknamed "B" by his relatives and friends, di Crespi has shunned the
temptation to move his business to more lucrative Manhattan, in part
because he's bent on pursuing an unfulfilled dream.

Now nearing 40, B is determined to renovate the town's centerpiece, the Our
Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic church, where he began learning about faith,
style and ritual as an altar boy.

Trigiani's previous novels were  "Big Stone Gap," on which a film version
is in progress, "Lucia, Lucia", which has been adapted for film version.
and "Queen of the Big Time".

Coalfield Progress
PowerOne Media
By Jeff Lester,
Senior Writer
June 08, 2005

Adriana Trigiani has become a man - in her new novel, at least. Trigiani
takes the unusual step of inhabiting a male lead character to provide the
voice - and the window dressing, furniture and wall treatments - for
"Rococo," a comic splash of a story about love, lust, art, family and
small-town life on the sunny central New Jersey shore in 1970.

Trigiani, who grew up in Big Stone Gap and has lived in lower Manhattan for
many years, discussed the new book, and plans for new film and television
projects, in a recent e-mail interview.

"ROCOCO"

The protagonist of "Rococo" is Bartolomeo di Crespi, an interior decorator
who has restyled virtually every home in the small Italian-American village
of Our Lady of Fatima, on the Jersey shore.

Nicknamed "B" by his relatives and friends, di Crespi has shunned the
temptation to move his business to more lucrative Manhattan, in part
because he's bent on pursuing an unfulfilled dream.

Now nearing 40, B is determined to renovate the town's centerpiece, the Our
Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic church, where he began learning about faith,
style and ritual as an altar boy.

B hopes to persuade the priest, Father Porporino, to hire him for the
renovations. Meanwhile, B's sister Toot, her kids and his cousin Christina
all depend on him for advice about everything from their screwy love lives
to selecting the right wallpaper.

As if that wasn't enough, B's wealthiest client, Aurelia Mandelbaum, has
been trying to marry off her daughter Capri to him since they were kids.

But B is ambiguous at best about romance in general, particularly with
Capri, his best friend.

B's pursuit of his dream decorating job brings a New York collaborator to
town, painter Rufus McSherry.

The women of Our Lady of Fatima can practically detect the fragrance of
testosterone eminating from the burly, handsome Irishman. While delivering
a fresh breath of romance to the village, McSherry challenges B to follow
his heart as he plans the church renovations - and struggles to figure out
his love life.

"Rococo" revolves around familiar Trigiani themes - family, small-town
life, Italian-American culture, romance.

"I return to the themes that haunt and obsess me about life over and over
again," she wrote. Work and love are the guts of existence, she noted.

"I also like the veneer - the beauty, the surface - which, by the way, has
a lot of power. I loved filling the shoes of a man - and a small town
decorator, a bachelor."

Writing B felt as natural as creating the female protagonists of "Big Stone
Gap," "Lucia, Lucia" and "Queen of the Big Time," Trigiani noted. "I want
my readers to have fun with this one - to escape, to laugh and to be
engulfed in the beauty of fabric and wallpaper."

Why set the story in New Jersey?

There are two Jerseys, Trigiani noted - the one that is the butt of jokes
by New Yorkers, and the one that is "a shimmering beach front state full of
interesting people and gorgeous landscapes."

She chose Jersey after spending time there, she explained. "I find that my
fellow Italian-Americans who emigrated from the coastal shores of Italy
sought similar terrain in America."

Trigiani set the story in 1970 "because I wanted a glamorous backdrop when
people had cocktails and smoked and didn't buy everything they saw in a
store on credit," she wrote. "I have a hard time with the present."

Trigiani will begin a national multi-city tour to promote "Rococo" with a
June 22 appearance on NBC's Today show.

The book, published by Random House, goes on sale nationally June 21.

Joining her on several stops of the tour will be Tony-nominated actor Mario
Cantone, who portrayed Anthony on the popular comedy "Sex and the City."
Cantone is the narrator for the audio version of the book.

OTHER PROJECTS

Soon, the trilogy of "Big Stone Gap" novels will cease to be a trilogy.
Trigiani noted that her next novel will be "Christmas in Big Stone Gap,"
set in the present day and tentatively planned for publication in the fall
of 2006.

Also, Trigiani has adapted her novel "Lucia, Lucia," about a young woman
working in the 1950s fashion world of New York, for a film version. The
producer is Julie Durk, who recently produced a big-screen remake of the
classic "Honeymooners" television comedy. They are now searching for a
director, Trigiani explained.

Further, veteran television producer Larry Sanitsky asked Trigiani - who
has written and produced for television herself - to work with him on a new
Lifetime Network series "about new mommies in Greenwich Village," she noted.

Meanwhile, work continues on the film version of "Big Stone Gap."

"I am as anxious as my readers to get the cameras rolling for our 'Big
Stone Gap' movie," she wrote. "My producer, Susan Cartsonis of Storefront
Pictures, is as eager as I to make a great movie - a small town American
gem. We want to do it right. So bear with us - we have our script and now
we are putting all the pieces together. We are very close - so please be
patient. It will be worth the wait. I can't wait to see our town on the big
screen."

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