NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL WINNER, 2016 IPPY Awards for Memoir Imagine My Big Fat Greek Wedding crashing into Eat Pray Love on the set of Water for Elephants. This romantic, coming-of-age adventure is an intimate portrayal of young love, where Kathleen and Stefano learn to navigate their cultural differences, shed youthful concepts of romance, and form a life-long bond. "Kathleen’s journey toward self-discovery is enthralling ... the descriptions of life in the circus, the animals, and the spectacle put on every night vividly take readers into the experience." Publishers Weekly Kathleen Cremonesi knew early on she wanted to be different. Determined to avoid following in her mother’s footsteps to an ill-fated marriage, Kathleen left Oregon in her early 20s to travel across Europe. On a whim, this former administrative assistant with wanderlust took a job as a dancer in an Italian circus and, working her way up, became an ostrich-riding, shark-taming showgirl. Kathleen bonds with the exotic animals that could strike and kill at any moment, but instead bring her a peace she has never known. And when she stumbles into the arms of Stefano, the sexy elephant keeper, she finds a man who understands her wild spirit. With thrilling prose and vivid descriptions, Kathleen takes the reader around the Mediterranean, where she discovers unexpected friends and learns how to cook, forgive, and love—across language barriers.