American Destiny
A True Story of Family, Roots, and the Journey Between Two Worlds
by Marcella Luiso Flanagan, Phyllis Clare Orlowski
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Description
Awards & Endorsements
Author(s)
Marcella Luiso Flanagan
Phyllis Clare Orlowski
Related Titles
| Publisher | Author Solutions |
| Publication | Jan 07, 2026 |
| Format | Paperback/Softback |
| ISBN | 979-8765267127 |
| Pages | 368 |
| Dimensions | 6 x 9 x 0.83 in |
| Age | Adult 18+ |
| Price | $21.99 |
American Destiny
A True Story of Family, Roots, and the Journey Between Two Worlds
In 1948, thirteen-year-old Marcie Argenti leaves New York with her parents, sister, and little brother aboard the MS Saturnia. Their destination is Bari, Italy—the homeland her immigrant parents have long dreamed of reclaiming.
But postwar Italy is not the country they remember. Naples lies scarred by bombing, money has lost its value, and the family’s cherished olive and almond groves can no longer promise security. Yet amid hardship, Marcie discovers a world rich with grandparents, cousins, faith, music, courtship, hand-shaped orecchiette, almond harvests, and traditions carried through generations.
As her parents confront an impossible choice between ancestral roots and their children’s future, Marcie begins to understand that home is not simply where a family begins. It is where love, courage, and opportunity can endure.
Drawn from vivid childhood memories and created with the help of her niece, American Destiny is an intimate true story of immigration, belonging, and the bonds that survive oceans. Warm, evocative, and steeped in the life of southern Italy, it speaks to every family that has ever lived between two worlds.
Reviews, Awards & Endorsements
Award win for Readers' Choice Book Awards 2026
Authors
Marcella Luiso Flanagan
Marcella Luiso Flanagan is an American fashion designer and manufacturing executive who became a pioneering advocate for women in business. Beginning in the 1960s, she built a career in an industry with few women in leadership and later served as the founding executive director of the New York Association of Women Business Owners, established in 1977. She also organized New York City’s first Salute to Women in Business Week. In American Destiny, she preserves the story of her Italian American family and their life-changing return to postwar Italy in 1948.
Her niece and coauthor, Phyllis Clare Orlowski, is a retired educator, advocate, writer, and artist. Having lived and studied in Florence, she speaks Italian fluently and maintains deep ties to the family’s heritage in Apulia. Her research, artwork, and collaboration helped bring Marcella’s memories to the page.
Phyllis Clare Orlowski
Marcella Luiso Flanagan is an American fashion designer and manufacturing executive who became a pioneering advocate for women in business. Beginning in the 1960s, she built a career in an industry with few women in leadership and later served as the founding executive director of the New York Association of Women Business Owners, established in 1977. She also organized New York City’s first Salute to Women in Business Week. In American Destiny, she preserves the story of her Italian American family and their life-changing return to postwar Italy in 1948.
Her niece and coauthor, Phyllis Clare Orlowski, is a retired educator, advocate, writer, and artist. Having lived and studied in Florence, she speaks Italian fluently and maintains deep ties to the family’s heritage in Apulia. Her research, artwork, and collaboration helped bring Marcella’s memories to the page.