Marisabina Russo

A grandmother tells her granddaughter the story of the charm bracelet that represent her own childhood experiences while she and her family tried to evade the Nazis in Italy during World War II.

Sophie is nervous and excited about her first sleepover, but when she meets her best friend Olive's other best friend, Penelope, Sophie wants nothing more than to go straight home.

"It's 1950s New York, and Marisabina Russo is being raised Catholic and attending a Catholic school that she loves--but when she finds out that she's Jewish by blood, and that her family members are Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, her childhood is thrown into turmoil. To make matters more complicated, her father is out of the picture, her mother is ambitious and demanding, and her older half-brothers have troubles, too. Following the author's young...

Beat poet and experimental filmmaker Piero Heliczer's daughter explores the artistic legacy and life of a man she never knew; the promise and perils of leading an authentic, creative life; and how to make peace with never knowing your father.