When Gia Scarpino left home for college, she and her three best friends, Barbara Arminavage, Yozo Walenticonis, and Willie Cunningham, promised to remain close. In high school, the four had been inseparable; Barbara, an optimistic dreamer, Yozo, the class underachiever, and Willie, Gia"s first love. But Gia never returned, and their friendships withered. Now, 35 years later, Gia comes home to see her terminally ill Uncle Tony--and for the chance to reunite with old friends. Though Gia is no longer the girl she once was, she is surprised by the changes in her friends. Yozo has formed an intimate friendship with Uncle Tony and is a wealthy and respected entrepreneur. Barbara has destroyed herself and her family with alcohol; while Willie, who had spent years holding on to hope for Gia"s return, has become a priest. As the euphoria of their reunion wears off, the friends face the grim reality of their personal failures and the dangerous consequences of the dormant passions that linger between them. Dust off your catechism, dig up your pasta machine, and prepare to be completely enveloped in the Italian Catholic culture of Annette Appollo"s The Last One Home. Appollo"s carefully developed characters and authentic touches bring this world to life, where quirky details and surreal moments prevent the danger of suffocation by nostalgia--and some predictable and not-so-predictable twists capture the reader"s attention and heart. --Nancy R.E. O"Brien