Growing up in New Jersey in the 1970s, Mary Nolan finds her youthful dreams shattered by a philandering husband and two needy young sons, but with the help of some ex-nuns and her colorful Mafioso relatives, she turns her life around.

Meet Mary Noland (nee Morelli), a tough-talking Jersey City native who comes of age during the turbulent 1970s. Marrying young to escape her parents, Mary finds herself shipwrecked by life with her philandering husband. Financially dependent on but emotionally abandoned by him, struggling to raise their two young sons virtually alone, Mary finally hits rock bottom. How she pulls herself up by her bootstraps is the story she tells in this remarkable debut. And the lives she touches en route to independence--giving a nun a makeover, bringing joy to a group of valium-addled housewives, going into business with her colorful host of "Mafioso" relatives--are testaments to the huge heart, generous spirit, and unflinching insight that make Mary unforgettable.