What a great story! It sucked you in from the very beginning. Very well written this is a story you should read. Thanks to the author for doing such a great job.

3.5 stars but since that isn't really an option. Im giving it 3 and noting the difference here.

I love historical fiction, it rarely disappoints, And I won't say that this book did because it didn't, but there was something that it was missing. It was like I needed a little more of something, no clue what though. All in all a decent story about immigration, the struggles or making it in a new country & family secrets.
I look forward to reading more from this author because I did enjoy the writing style, even if I did feel like something was missing.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

I received a free ARC of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I've given this book 3 stars and I'm not sure why not 4, maybe just because it's a fairly simple linear tale of an Italian immigrant family through the early years of the 20th Century, and it's not my usual murder mystery/sci-fi/fantasy type of book. This is well written, although with a few syntax & spelling errors that indicate a need for some extra editing. Starting slowly and gathering pace, the story wields powerful messages of love, loss, grief, passion and more. I enjoyed this excursion into an unfamiliar genre.

I was up in the air about this novel. Compelling, interesting while reading, it however didn't call to me to finish. I was at once interested in seeing how it would play out while reading and forgetting I was in the middle of it when not.

In Calvano, Italy, in the early years of the twentieth century, Victoria is married to Salvatore and their children: Vincenzo, Francis, Gennaro, Catherina and Gabriella. The marriage is turbulent, and soon Victoria flees to America with the four children, where she finds refuge with her brother and his family who live in the tenements of New York City's lower East side.

These four children lead disparate lives, they grow up, they marry, they are involved with the mob, they deal with Francis's sudden death.

Victoria marries Lorenzo. Their son, Santo, grew to develop a penchant for gambling that accelerated through his teens. Vinny, on the other hand, quits school at age 11 and slowly but surely becomes a successful businessman in partnership with his friend Tony.

And so, we follow this family through the First World War, Depression and Prohibition, as the years flew by.

In 1991, Clare comes to New York to celebrate her father's 90th birthday. They sit, looking at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and Vinny tells his story. Clare says that Vincenzo Montanaro's "wisdom had left an imprint on my mind, and his love had left an imprint on my heart. I was both inspired and exhausted from the journey we had just taken through his life, and I imagined he was also."

A thoughtful read with a surprising ending.

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Books Go Social pub date 03/09/17

An interesting read about an Italian family emigrating to New York at the start of the 20th century. It is a story about their lives and it also gives an insight into what New York was like when they arrived.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This was a perfectly pleasant light read, based on the authors’ own family experiences, and an historically accurate account of life for an immigrant family in New York over the first half of the 20th century. Nothing much else to say, really. A good editor should have picked up on mistakes in vocabulary, which, as a pedantic reader I found irritating, and as the characters are not explored in any depth, I wasn’t able to engage with any of them, but I stuck with it and was glad to find out what happened to them all in the end.

Drawing from their own experiences, the authors have created a historical narrative around an Italian family over several generations. This family saga was an interesting read, but I found it a little slow at times. It was a sad story regarding hardship and poverty but I felt a bit of a disconnect with the characters - the book moved on quickly to the point where I felt no emotional connection to the characters. This made it hard to become invested in the book and in the family and their dynamics.
On the plus side, I feel like the book is filled with clear historical accuracy and I found that aspect very believable.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very lightweight, rather tedious skim through the history of an Italian family emigrating to New York. The characters live and die in quick succession, and the story moves on to the next, so there is no emotional attachment to any of them. There is no depth or tension in it. The prose is simplistic and lacking originality. There is historical accuracy. so a point for that. The conclusion is meant to be some sort of emotional closure but as there is no connection with any of the characters it is a bit of a damp squib.

Wow, a lot can happen in 40 years. Italian siblings immigrate to America and the family experiences one tragedy after another, including domestic violence, murder, gang affiliation, alcoholism, drug use, mental health trauma, adultery, grief, and broken hearts.
I did enjoy learning new details about life in New York City during the first half of the 20th century. The writing seemed a bit like a textbook at times, though, with little emotional connection to the characters and a “tell” rather than a “show” feel.
Overall, I enjoyed reading “Forty Years in a Day” and would recommend it to readers interested in history, life in New York City, gang interactions, family dynamics, and brave, strong female leads.

Forty Years in a Day by Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito is a family saga of an Italian family through several generations.
Victoria and her children emigrated from Italy to America in the early twentieth century.
They have a hard life living in Hell's Kitchen and try their best to make a living.
This is a sad story of endurance, poverty and hardship.
Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.