"Set principally in Philadelphia and the fictional New Jersey shore community of Riverbeach in the days leading up to WWII, The Carousel Carver explores the relationship between Giacinto, an elderly Italian immigrant who works as a carver of carousel horses, and Rosa, eight, a half-gypsy girl from Trieste. In a letter from the unrequited love of his life back in Italy, Giacinto learns that the Nazi campaign of ethnic cleansing in Europe is targeting the gypsies of Trieste, and that Rosa, the correspondent's orphaned granddaughter, is in imminent danger. With nowhere else to turn, the woman implores Giacinto to help Rosa make a new home in America. The Carousel Carver is a story about tolerance, second chances, and the power of love. Its central image is an exquisite carousel horse carved by Giacinto as a tribute to his lost love, inspired by the famed Lipizzaner stallions he recalls from his youth. The novel follows Giacinto's and Rosa's struggles to assimilate in America, aided by friendships that blossom in unexpected places. A climactic hurricane strikes the Jersey shore, destroying the Riverbeach carousel but sparing Rosa and bringing hope and purpose to Giacinto"--