Our Good Name is the story of Stefano and his young bride Celestina, both Italian immigrants who leave behind the back-breaking field labor in their beloved Northern Italy to find their place in a strange new country. Sailing in steerage class on the improbably named ship Champagne, Stefano gets a hint of the reality that lies ahead in the United States.

What Stefano and Celestina find in America was not the land of promise and opportunity they dreamed about, at least not for Italian immigrants in the early 1900s. From the squalor of the transatlantic voyage to the shock of their first encounter with Ellis Island to the lowest paid and most demeaning jobs they were forced to take, this is a tale of struggles, hardships, and heart-wrenching losses, including the execution of their friend Nicola Sacco. 

America—and their adopted town of Milford, Massachusetts—asked for many sacrifices. And yet, the stories of Stefano and Celestina and their sprawling family, are filled with love, humor, and the determination to preserve their good name while making a life they could hand down to their children and grandchildren.

Inspired by true events, Our Good Name is a historical novel that surprises with a fresh and honest perspective about the hard realities of immigrant life in the United States and the courage required to make a home of one’s own in the “New World”.