The Italian Immigrants' Daughter

The daughter of Italian immigrants from Sardinia, Italy, Gina Mossa Molino was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1933. In 1946 at age 12, she was plucked from the familiarity of American life and shipped to Sardinia with her siblings and mamma after Papà Giovanni Mossa died tragically on-the-job building soldier barracks in Baltimore. In a ‘reverse emigration' story, Gina shares detailed anecdotes of growing up in the 1930-40s in Brooklyn and the poor Italian village of Luras, Sardinia, under the watch of a strict Italian mamma bravely raising three children alone, and lovingly guided by uncles and aunts. Gina's daughter and coauthor, Suzanna Rosa Molino (author, Baltimore's Little Italy: Heritage & History of The Neighborhood), passionate about her Sardinian heritage, shares memories of growing up as the granddaughter of Nonna Antonica, a significant influence in Suzanna's life. With vintage photographs, some Sardinian history, amusing & emotional stories, and description of the ongoing connection between the Mossa cousins in Italy and America today, The Italian Immigrants’ Daughter offers an authentic peek of first- and second-generation Italian life, as described by mother and daughter.