Corrado and the Beauty Queen
A HISTORICAL FAMILY SAGA
A marriage tested by ambition, envy, and the weight of family and cultural expectations.
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 22, 2026
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Corrado and the Beauty Queen is a historical family saga about a marriage tested by ambition, envy, and the weight of family and cultural expectations.
Queenie, once a radiant beauty queen, has spent twenty years holding together five children, a business, and a husband who’s always chasing his next dream. When anonymous letters arrive, cruel and specific, insisting Corrado has been unfaithful... suddenly every “late dinner” and old rumor feels like evidence.
As Queenie looks back to their first spark in high school and the glow of their early years, she must decide what’s real: the charming sports hero everyone adores, or the restless man who keeps making choices that leave her bearing the cost.
In a world of Sunday family dinners, loyalty, and small-town judgment, the hardest question isn’t whether Corrado betrayed her. It’s whether love can survive the truths they’ve both avoided but need to face.
Will Queenie keep playing her role... or rewrite the story of their marriage, family, and herself?
ABOUT THE BOOK
Margo Pensavalle grew up near Boston, Massachusetts. After sixteen years of public school teaching, she earned a doctorate in Curriculum, Teaching, and Technology from the University of Southern California, where she taught and is now a professor emerita.
She has spoken at national and international events and has been interviewed by various media outlets on urban education in underserved communities. She lives in Southern California with her family.
Corrado and the Beauty Queen is her debut novel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JACOB M. APPEL