When Research Becomes a Story
From Naples to Newark grew directly from my research. The characters and events are based on real life experiences built from everything I learned about what it meant to leave southern Italy in the early 20th century and build a life in another country.
The women in the novel carry the same questions my research raised: What do you hold onto when you leave everything behind? What do you carry forward from the family you came from to the family you're building? How do you tell your children about a place they've never seen and may never see?
Writing the book was, in some ways, my way of answering those questions — with both facts and imagination. The research gave me the details, the novel gave me the opportunity to bring the story to life.
Follow the resource links below to begin your Personal Journey into researching your family history. You'll be amazed at what you may uncover!
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Where to begin your family search
Passenger records for arrivals at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1957, searchable by name with original manifest images.
Free genealogy records from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — one of the largest collections of digitized records in the world.