Unbidden Love

“I’m very sorry to make you unhappy, Pop,” Lindy replied with genuine sadness, “But, Joey is the last man on earth that I would ever consider marrying.”
“Listen to me, Lindy. You’re going to marry Joey in three months . . . or you’ll leave this family forever. If you don’t do as I say, you’ll never see us or speak with any of us again.”

When Lindy Wentworth’s parents die in a car accident when she is ten, she is taken into the strict, but loving care of her godparents. Mama and Pop Castellano came to America as immigrants many years before, but they never gave up the old-fashioned values of their youth. Each of their three sons is very different in personality.
Joey, the eldest, is quiet and self-assured, but he has not yet completely settled into his responsibility at his father’s import company. The second son, Al, who is Lindy’s age, is a wild prankster. During childhood, he often drew her into his schemes to annoy his older brother. Frank, the baby of the family, spends most of his time working on his anthropology thesis.
The story starts when Lindy is twenty-five. When Pop announces that it’s time for Joey and Lindy to settle down into an arranged marriage, the couple is shocked and appalled. They have never gotten along well together, and, in fact, they intensely dislike each other.
But there is no changing Pop’s mind. Without their consent, he sends out the wedding invitations, and arranges informal and formal engagement parties, compelling the young couple to bend to his will. Nothing they say or do can sway his conviction that they will be perfect for each other.
As Lindy and Joey are forced together in order to plot against this marriage, they come to see each other in a different light. Only time will tell if Mama’s belief is true, that Pop is always right.