Christina the Astonishing [Paperback]

St. Christina the Astonishing, as she is known today, might not sound like a feminist icon. But for actor, screenwriter and essayist Marianne Leone, Christina is a figure of liberation. Leone's new novelinspired in part by the authors experiences in an immigrant family in 1960s Bostonis called An awkward, spiky Italian American teen navigates family chaos, Catholic school, and misogyny in 1960s Boston, with brio . . . [T]his brash, witty, slice-of-life book is a feast. Think Adriana Trigiani writing with a sharpened nib, and pray to your own saints that well read more from Leone soon. As hilarious as David Sedaris and mental in the best possible way, Christina has just become my higher power. A magnificent time machine that rockets you back to 1960s Boston, suits you up in a little plaid skirt, and drops you into the sights, sounds, and smells of Catholic school and its many horrors and occasional ecstatic (and forbidden) joys. I've read Leone's two wonderful nonfiction books, but this putative fictional book is as true as writing gets.