Marcella Luiso Flanagan and Phyllis Clare Orlowski recently visited Chintz-N-Prints to share a bit of their family history. It was a family history that was already shared with Chintz-N-Prints, as the late Lil Orlowski — Flanagan's sister and Orlowski's mother — was an employee of the South Main Street establishment for 30 years.

Flanagan and Orlowski visited their family member’s former place of work on May 30 to show off the book they co-wrote, American Destiny — A True Story of Family, Roots, and the Journey Between Two Worlds, published in February.

According to the back of the book, in this autobiography, Flanagan "remembers every detail of July 3, 1948, when she and her family boarded a former military transport ship to cross the Atlantic back to Italy, and the months that followed, like it was yesterday. They spent five unforgettable months in postwar Italy ... The devastation of war, the devaluation of the lira, and the loss of all they had once owned forced them to make the heart-wrenching decision to return to America. They left Italy on December 1, 1948, and went back to their home in Westchester, N.Y. Those five short months would change the course of Marcella's life forever..."

Orlowski described the book during the talk as "about Italy, and about family unity between generations."

"It's really an immigrant story," said Orlowski.

According to Orlowski, the book was originally meant to be a screenplay, but the two wanted their story to get out into people's hands, so they shifted gears to writing the book, adding several additional sections such as a Christmas scene, as well as seven authentic recipes from Bari, Apulia, Italy.

Flanagan said the recipes were "one way family stayed connected."

Flanagan is an American fashion designer executive, described by the book as "a maverick for women in business beginning in the 1960s through 2000, and the founding executive director of the New York Association of Women Business Owners," formed in 1977.

During the book talk Flanagan and Orlowski showed off pictures of Lil Orlowski; artwork they had done that was supposed to be the movie poster, depicting a slender woman in a city surrounded by American flags; pictures of family; as well as samples of food cooked using the book's recipes, which included focaccia and biscotti dal anise.

They discussed both Flanagan's time in Italy with her sister as well as her career in fashion in New York later in life, where she was an advocate for women in business. She helped found the Association of Women Business Owners, which advocates and provides assistance and mentorship for women business owners across the country today.

"We wanted women in business," said Flanagan. "We made money for men, why couldn't we make it for ourselves?"

In spite of the fact that the book is based in Italy, Orlowski said the story was "very American."

"They were American, born in America and lived in America," said Orlowski of her mother, aunt, and grandparents.

As she was wrapping up, Flanagan said an important lesson in her book is to "be open at each stage in life for good things to happen.

"We have so much to offer," said Flanagan.

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Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.