MY SON, THE AMERICAN

Tony and Gigi are two young people coming from very different places who fall together in the embrace of passion. It takes one kiss. But even before that kiss, they beg to agree, never to share their secrets. Gigi sees them with children, nine children. But on their wedding night, a knock comes at the door. Will the ghost of Laura Antonelli permit their love? The scene is the North End of Boston, in the dramatic days of The Great War, the Molasses Flood, the flu pandemic of 1918. Then the turbulent Twenties test them with the trials of Sacco and Vanzetti, and next the Depression challenges their very survival, only to bring them to the brink of World War II. Will Gigi’s prophecy of nine children come true? Can Tony make a lasting peace with himself in spite of loving two women? Will their son, the American, survive the Battle of Salerno and his return to Alta Villa, the place where his father began?

My Son The American is Volume 2 in Eugene Christy’s 5-volume series, The Twentieth Century Quintet. The author is this year’s winner of a full scholarship to the Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop, awarded annually by Founder/Director Joy Baglio.

What readers are saying about Volume 1, Arrivederci New York:
Eugene Christy writes a lyrical, coming of age narrative of determination, resolve, and self-reliance. The novel carries a full heart of emotions, as it begins a five-volume saga of three generations of an American immigrant family. With the tenderness of a poet, Christy initiates the reader into this epic journey . . . it really is a gem. - David W. Berner, award-winning author of Things Behind The Sun

There’s an animal exuberance in Gene Christy’s storytelling that makes you want to keep reading, from one trial and adventure to the next, all the way to the end. An immigrant story told with fascinating historical detail…unforgettable. - Christopher Nye, Chairman of Orion Magazine

An ambitious undertaking by any standard. Arrivederci New York is a rich narrative. Christy has done his homework. This is a very different sort of fictionalized memoir, an immigrant’s saga which both tells a great story and informs the reader. I highly recommend it and look forward to the next book in the series. - Richard W. Wise, award-winning author of Redlined, Secrets of the Gem Trade, and The French Blue

Paperback: 376 pages
Publishing date: August 16, 2020
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-952570-89-6
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches

Eugene Christy is a novelist, poet and musician currently enjoying retirement in his home in the Berkshires. His maternal grandparents Antonio Scioscia and Giuseppina Fabrizio came from Alta Villa Irpina, near Avellino, in the South of Italy. He has studied under Sean O’Faolain, James Dickey, and Larry McMurtry. Appearing as Gene Christy, he was previously known around the Berkshires as the singer-songwriter and accordian-player who led The Dossers, the Irish-themed pub-band trio featuring Bill Morrison and Rick Marquis. His current project, six years in the making, is called The Twentieth Century Quintet, five Novels telling the saga of Antonio LaStoria and his descendants through three generations in America from 1899 to 1972, to be published by Adelaide Books, New York, in 2020 and 2021.