About The Book
Sophia's Exit Strategy
As a child growing up in Palermo, Italy, Sophia Lucarno was "different" from what is usually considered "normal" — and consequently suffered from the taunts of other children.
As a result, Sophia developed a survival mechanism that enabled her to go deep inside herself, sufficiently shutting out the outside world. This tendency to be silent about herself became a regular feature of her personality and continued until adulthood. As an adult, Sophia continued to resort to this state of silence in order to fight back against the traumas of her life. Despite her extraordinary beauty, it was obvious to Sophia's father, Salvatore Lucarno, that she would never be able to get a husband from among the local men, so he arranged to marry her off to an American named Sergio Borelli.
Borelli married the beautiful Sophia and brought her to live in New York's "Little Italy." Their union was not a "love marriage" but an arranged marriage, one that involved a sufficiently large bride price. Once Borelli ran into Sophia's brick wall of silence, however, he began to believe he had been duped — and that he had actually purchased an inferior human being. In his outrage at being stuck with an inferior wife, he begins to verbally and physically abuse Sophia. After some time, Sophia forms a relationship with a local Jewish laundry cleaner and a wealthy widow, a twosome who acts as her support system against her husband, Sergio. They help her plan her first escape.
Meanwhile, Sergio, a low-ranking member of the neighborhood Mafia, calls on the organization for help in locating and returning his escaped wife. The chase is about to begin.
In a novel that powerfully captures the zeitgeist of late 1930s America, novelist C. Paolo Caruso masterfully weaves a riveting tapestry, one richly infused with intrigue, comedy, pathos, and human drama.
Driven forward by brisk momentum, a cast of richly drawn characters, and a twist-filled plot that will leave the reader guessing — and panting — until the last page, Sophia's Exit Strategy is one exciting, rewarding reading experience.
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ISBN13 (TP) : 978-1-4363-0066-7
ISBN13 (HB) : 978-1-4363-0067-4
The Company of Brookfield
In 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the "first black president of the United States." The fact that he was "the first." speaks volumes about the role of race in US society. Race has been and continues to be the overriding but least discussed feature of US culture. Too often, lives have been advanced or destroyed because of little else than the color of one's skin. Stories on either side of the divide are legion in US history.
The Company of Brookfield addresses the persisting issues of race and racism in the US in a most dramatic and extraordinary way. The gripping plot, set in the 1920s (and beyond), is so much more than the love affair between Carrie, a white woman and Pierre, an African American man. Beyond that relationship, the human emotions of ambition, jealousy, greed, fear, and love are explored to full effect throughout the plot. Human strengths and failures permeate the pages of this exciting, fast-paced, never-boring novel.
The outhouse is utilized by the author to create a symbolic, unifying element in the novel. No one is spared the heinous influences-symbolically or concretely-of the ubiquitous and hated outhouses. From the town's father, Joseph Trayer, to Pierre and Carrie to the average citizen of Brookfield, the outhouse touches and leaves its mark on their lives.
The Company of Brookfield is a love story with a political and social message. It is set within a historical timeline (1920s-1950s) and is influenced by many of the historical events of that period.
This novel is truly a pick-up, ca-n't-put-down read destined to entertain and inspire and leave a lasting influence on the human psyche!
C. Paolo Caruso is a teacher and writer living in New York City.
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