Rosanna Chiogalo:
As a child, she fell in love with books and dreamed of the day when she would write her own.
Her parents emigrated from Sicily in the early ’60s. The New York City neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, where she grew up, along with many other children of immigrants, influenced her and her writing.

It was the second week in March. The magnolia trees had already bloomed, and tulips, daffodils, and wildflowers were shooting up all around the convent’s gardens.