ABSTRACT
August 21, 1953: A powder-blue Cadillac convertible parks in front of Frank and Lucys grocery store on South Day Street. Carmine Salvatore, a family friend, helps load Rosalies five suitcases in the trunk, while she bids her father, sister, and brothers goodbye. Mr. Salvatore drives Rosalie and her best friend Ruth (along with Rosalies mother, who will wave goodbye from the dock), to Pier 44 in New York to board the USS Constitution, a ship of the American Export Lines en route to Napoli. He then presents Rosalie with a bon voyage gift, a white beaded evening bag. This European voyage of six weeks, intended as a light-hearted tour before she settles down to marry her fiancé, will have unanticipated consequences.
