Rejection

Rejection is a sweeping, multigenerational novel about appearance, status, belonging, and the lifelong consequences of cruelty. It follows Ariana Chilaze Sheale, who was born with visible congenital differences and grows up facing cruelty, exclusion, and social judgment. Supported by her devoted mother, Serena, Ariana learns to transform pain into resilience, finding strength through art, education, friendship, and self-belief. As the story spans wartime Italy, postwar America, and later Europe, it contrasts sincerity and perseverance with vanity, social ambition, and shallow ideals of perfection. Through Ariana’s rise and the downfall of those who once dismissed her, the novel explores rejection, acceptance, redemption, and the enduring power of dignity and has an unpredictable and surprise ending.