Discussion Questions

1. What aspects of Giovanna and Vincenzo’s and Cass and Luca’s relationships do you think are the most important? The most challenging? Which relationship do you relate to more?

2. If Luca and Cass switched places with Vincenzo and Giovanna, do you think their love stories would have gone down different paths? Why or why not?

3. Who was your favorite character in the novel, and why?

4. Discuss the ways in which class and social standing played a part in both Giovanna and Vincenzo’s, and Cass and Luca’s relationships. Do you think Vincenzo was right to feel the way he did about abolishing Italian nobility? What about Giovanna? Did you empathize with one perspective more than the other?

5. Have you ever dated someone your family didn’t approve of? If so, how did you handle that situation?

6. What was your favorite scene in the novel, and why?

7. If you could live in New York City, or Genoa, Italy, which would you choose, and why? Have you visited or lived in either city, and if so, what was your experience like?

8. If you were Giovanna in 1946, would you have made the same life-changing decision to listen to her sister after everything that had happened between her and Vincenzo? Why or why not?

9. Do you think Vincenzo and Giovanna ultimately made the right decision in 2019? Why or why not? If you were Cass or Luca, how would you have reacted?

10. What were your thoughts on the ending?