Acclaimed memoir about author's annual transition from Wall St. to his Italian family's food concession at the Wisconsin State Fair. Great Americana!
Welcome to the August lives of Amatore Mille and his family. The year is 2001...and 1957...and 1973 - actually, every year, since 1932 - when the Milles began an August summer tradition of selling Italian sausage sandwiches at The Wisconsin State Fair. You are about to enter a world where Italian immigrant grandparents leave their indelible mark on three subsequent generations, where a father, in his inimitable way, focuses on the family business...and his family...for eleven days of each summer, and where children grow up with sawdust underfoot and State Fair attractions all around.
In episodes that move between present and past, the author takes you on a tour of family escapades that, in turn, are laugh-out-loud funny...and touching...where grandma, with no experience, is forced to drive expensive cars, grandpa provides light-hearted amusement (but little work), and the author, through misadventures and near-tragedy, finally learns what the family business is really all about.
Excerpt
The change I am about to go through is pretty extreme; earlier this week, at my regular job near Wall Street, I met with a business executive who runs a division of one of the largest financial institutions in the world – he has about 30,000 people under him. We discussed potential opportunities that could save his division millions of dollars – annually. Now, tomorrow morning, I will be getting crap from a Milwaukee teenager who wants sauerkraut on his $4.00 Italian sausage sandwich – and I will enjoy every second of it!
Professional Reviews
Midwest book Review
A Reviewer’s Choice Selection.
This debut memoir of Milwaukee native Amatore "Matt" Mille, Eleven Days in August: A Chronicle of Summers is the author's memoir and collection of anecdotes relating to his family's tradition of selling Italian sausage sandwiches at The Wisconsin State Fair. For eleven days each summer, the broad extended family would gather, share news and opportunities, and experience joy, adventures, and misadventures. From Italian immigrant grandparents whose mark blazes fiercely on subsequent generations, to the core bonds that tie family members to each other and their business, to the long-spanning history of the annual Wisconsin gathering dating back to its inception in 1932, Eleven Days in August is a robust tour that reveals beyond any shadow of doubt that blood - or sausage meat - is thicker than water.
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