Meeting Luciano

A funny [and] enchanting novel about a Japanese-American mother and daughter-and a legendary Italian tenor (The New Yorker). Hanako Shimoda, recently divorced, is fixated on Luciano Pavarotti-and convinced that he will accept her invitation to dinner at her Westchester County home. To prepare for the opera star's upcoming visit, she's hired a contractor to renovate the kitchen. Hanako's daughter, Emily, a fully assimilated American, is in a holding pattern at the moment. With no real career plan after college, she has gone back to work at her old summer job-waiting tables at the local Japanese steakhouse. Even worse than wearing a fake kimono and obi is that she's living at home with her mother. At first, her mom seems pretty much her old self: still reliving her Japanese childhood; still affecting the airs of a European sophisticate; still brewing espresso, cooking Italian, and singing arias from Rigoletto while she cleans; still idolizing Luciano Pavarotti. But once Hanako hires the handsome Alex, Emily begins to worry. The Greek-American contractor seems to be getting very cozy with her mother, and the once-harmless Pavarotti obsession seems to have turned into full-blown delusion. Emily may have to step in to rescue her lonely mom before she completely loses it-but along the way, she may find that she's been kidding herself about a few things, too . . . Though humorously drawn, Esaki-Smith's novel never ridicules her slightly eccentric characters, presenting all their deliciously human faults and foibles in a warmly sympathetic manner. -Booklist [A] polished, gentle first novel . . . [Emily's] fraught relationship with her mother is heartfelt and complicated. -Publishers Weekly Sublime . . . Like the steakhouse where Emily works, which was built without a single nail, Esaki-Smith's first novel is a precisely constructed work of art, and your pleasure in discovering its multiple layers will have you singing her praises. -Newsday