*Shortlisted for the 2008 Saskatchewan Book Award for Non-Fiction *Shortlisted for the 2008 F.G. Bressani Literary Prize Even as generations pass, the pride of being Italian is in the genes of those who were raised in Italian immigrant families. Caruso's Journey Without A Map appropriately begins with pasta cooking instructions, and from that point the aroma of tomatoes, olives, and red wine are never far from the stories she weaves of herself and the impact of her family. Whether making connections between her Uncle Nick's nose and her Roman ancestors or detailing the daily rituals of her shepherdess mother on the Italian hillsides, Caruso relays the information in broad colourful strokes that are at once both inviting and humorous. With her earliest recollections of her family life in New Jersey, her father's grocery store, her mother's Catholic admonishments, the death of Santa Clause, the family habits, and the ever-present smells from the kitchen, she brings to us her sense of belonging to a rich heritage. But Caruso's journal and journey are not all feel-good, romanticized Italian immigrant experiences. There are those reflections on her mother's life that are as beautiful and intense as they are revealing; the portraits of her extended family members that stand outside the warmth of family love, and the tensions that develop when families are separated by geography and dreams.