An Evening with Actress and Author Marianne Leone in conversation with Actor Chris Cooper

An evening with actress and author Marianne Leone, who will discuss her new work of fiction Christina the Astonishing, A coming-of-age novel about the irrepressible Christina, whose encounters with Catholic school nuns, Italian mothers, and small-town Massachusetts will have readers laughing out loud even if Christina isn't. Leone will discuss her book in conversation with her husband, actor Chris Cooper.

In Christina the Astonishing, we meet Christina Falcone, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Precious Blood Junior High. She is growing up pazza according to her Italian immigrant mother, Rita, who curses a country that poisons children with chocolate milk and singing mice on television. The nuns at Precious Blood are giving Christina nightmares and facial tics with their daily descriptions of torture and martyrdom. 

These nightmares turn into dreams of escaping this place where she can see the entire trajectory of her life looming before her in a never-ending hamster loop that goes from Precious Blood Elementary School to La Sposa Bridal Shoppe and eventually across the street to Carmello’s Funeral Home without ever leaving her neighborhood only seven miles from Boston. But Harvard Square beckons and Christina’s window to the world cracks open, along with the entire American culture of the 1960s, as she grows from girl to woman.

Book sale and signing by Elm Street Books.

Registration required.

Marianne Leone is an actress, essayist and screenwriter. Her essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, Lit Hub, Ploughshares, Post Road, Bark Magazine, Coastal Living, Solstice, among other media. She is the author of three memoirs: Jesse, Ma Speaks Up, and, most recently, Five-Dog Epiphany. She had a recurring role on HBO’s The Sopranos as Joanne Moltisanti, Christopher’s mother. She has also appeared in films by David O. Russell, Larry David, John Sayles, Nancy Savoca and Martin Scorsese. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, actor Chris Cooper, and their two dogs.

Chris Cooper earned an Oscar for Lead Supporting Actor for his role as backwoods “orchid poacher” John Laroche in the 2002 film, Adaptation, based on The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. Cooper collaborates frequently with celebrated filmmaker and Schenectady native John Sayles, appearing in Matewan (1987), City of Hope (1991), Lone Star (1996), Silver City (2004) and Amigo (2010). Other credits include American Beauty (1999), Seabiscuit (2003), Capote (2005), Syriana (2005), The Kingdom (2007), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), and Little Women (2019). On TV, he starred as Sheriff July Johnson in the widely acclaimed 1989 miniseries, Lonesome Dove.