LA VALISE is a new novel that combines my passion for writing and love of food.

 

La Valise is about finding the courage to live life on one's own terms.

 

Steffi Benedetto has always wanted something else—something more—from her life.

 

Growing up in a tight-knit Italian community in Little Italy of the Bronx, the expectations for her life were stiflingly predictable: work in her parents’ Italian restaurant, marry a good Italian boy, raise children. But when Steffi wanders into Babette’s French pâtisserie, she rethinks everything and embrace her lifelong love of France; a love instilled in her by a Francophile grandmother with whom Steffi shared a passion for eclairs, the ballet, little black dresses, and red lipstick.

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Steffi quickly learns, it will take more than arriving in the city of her dreams to make her dreams a reality. Will Steffi be able to overcome a mix-ups, ruthless acquaintances, the charm of French men, too much French wine, and her biggest challenge of all—her own self-doubt? With the help of some unlikely friends and a gold tube of Chanel lipstick, Steffi will have to discover a future of her own making.

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