Petals from a Rose: A Family Epic is the story of the love and marriage of Paolo and Rosa Cucco, a novel based on real-life ancestral stories of devotion and despair, love and loss. Beginning in 1861 during Italy’s Risorgimento, through earthquakes, poverty, emigration, war, influenza, boom and bust, murder and lust, and the Great Depression, this is an enduring story of survival and success against a backdrop of prejudice and deception, love and kindness.