When Bone Melts

2025 Independent Press Award - Distinguished Favorite in Historical Fiction

"Libraries seeking a novel steeped in Italian experience as seen through the eyes of different generations that moves from 1893 Italian culture to modern times will find When Bone Melts realistic, compelling, and astute in its psychological and social inspections. It's perfect fodder for book club discussion groups, and a fine recommendation for any patron with roots and special interest in Italian culture." - Midwest Book Review

"When Bone Melts is a sweeping historical drama centered around a father's mistakes and the generations afterwards who try to pick up the pieces. The novel spans over seventy years of tense family dynamics and includes historical events such as World War I and World War II, painting a fascinating picture of a complicated, storied, sorrowful family." - Independent Book Review

When Bone Melts is a timeless story of how parents' choices become their children's inheritance. When nineteen-year-old sculptor Pasquale Marinova discovers his father's past includes a former wife and three daughters, he begins to reconstruct his understanding of his family and noble lineage. The arrival of Pasquale's beautiful half-sister Anastasia submerges the family in tension, leading him to side with Anastasia over his mother. As Pasquale and Anastasia grow closer, the boundaries of his identity melt away, causing him to unravel.

Franca Rossi, the second daughter of a proud Italian fisherman, is in love with Luca Marinova, Pasquale's younger brother. She navigates Luca's family's wealth, status, and multiculturalism with her deeply embedded Piedmont heritage and her desire to become a nurse. Franca becomes a pillar of strength amidst the Marinova family's turbulent financial dissolution and ruin.

This sweeping family saga, told from the points of view of Petyr "Pim" Marinova's six children and daughter-in-law, delves into themes of love, division, brotherhood, sisterhood, secret pasts, wealth, loss, forgiveness, regret, and redemption. Set in the Northern Italian Lakes region during the Kingdom of Italy and the rise of Italian fascism, the Parisian La Belle Époque era, and post-war New York City, the story follows the Marinova children as they disperse and collide in pursuit of resolution and generational healing. Some find solace, while others meet gruesome ends.