"Tony Romano’s When the World Was Young refuses to sentimentalize the Italian immigrant life that it explores. It pulls you deeper and deeper into this life through a series of wonderfully disturbing surprises that will make your heart ache."
-- Robert Hellenga, author of The Fall of a Sparrow and The Sixteen Pleasures

Little Italy lives again in this mythical tale of love, life, and death. Romano has concocted a new brew from an old country recipe that reminds us all of the humanity inside the shared emotions that transcend time, nation, and culture.
-- Fred Gardaphe, Director of Italian American Studies SUNY at Stony Brook

“When the World Was Young is a masterful evocation of a lost piece of American culture. The writing is sure and precise, the psychological and emotional insights always on target, the characters perfectly formed. Whether he is writing about a woman in labor, the intimacy of love, a streetcorner altercation, or a wrenching conversation between father and son, Tony Romano’s brilliance—as a craftsman and storyteller—shines from every paragraph. Simply a fine, fine book.
-- Roland Merullo, author of A Little Love Story and In Revere, In Those Days