Every Sunday

Nick Catini is a familiar face around Providence, Rhode Island. He runs Catini's Hardware, where customers and friends know they can count on him for favors, from tickets to a big game to help with his daughters' troubles. Each Sunday he holds court at the family table, serving up both pasta sauce and opinions. Those dinners draw grandchildren, football-watching men in the living room, and women who gossip and make plans in the kitchen. Sunday is the family's favorite day, and no one can picture it without him.

Then Nick dies suddenly, and his family must carry on without him. His daughters, Maria, Nina, and Gina, learn to manage on their own, even as they argue over whether their mother, Teresa, should start dating again. Teresa tries to hold the household together while wondering whether she might love again. Her son, Johnny, has a guarded heart, and he takes on his father's final request, a secret that could heal him or tear the family apart.

As fall gives way to a New England winter and then to spring, the Catinis are tested and transformed. The novel mixes humor with warmth and explores family, friendship, and the chance to begin again. It is the second novel by Peter Pezzelli, following his debut, Home to Italy.