The Immigrant now available
A story of love, loss, and the search for home

In the tradition of Pietro di Donato’s Christ in Concrete and John Fante’s Wait Until Spring, Bandini comes Joseph Zagame’s debut Italian-American novel, The Immigrant.

Set among the onion fields in Upstate New York, The Immigrant is the story of LP Sanguenano, a Roman Catholic priest who returns begrudgingly to his childhood home after many years away. There he finds his disturbed cousin, Louise, and her boyfriend, known only as the Indian, squandering the family legacy; his beloved uncle and father figure, Paolo, succumbing to despair; and a colorful cast of family and friends strangely ambivalent about the future of the farm. Against this backdrop, LP searches for a way to restore his family, and in the process uncovers forbidden love and the disturbing truth about a family he never really knew.

The Immigrant resonates far beyond the Italian-American experience, exploring such universal themes as heritage, family, and home. Fundamentally existential, the novel raises questions about man’s place in a foreign world, the tenuous foundations of knowledge, and, ultimately, the redemptive power of love.