The Rosselli Cantata : A Brief Family Chronicle [Paperback]

A. S. Maulucci (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2001

In this novel based on a true story of a man's search for his father's killer, vengeance is delayed but not denied. Salvatore Rosselli is the son of a poor Italian farmer embroiled in a feud over a precious patch of fertile land in an arid region of southern Italy. The events of a single day in 1924 change Salvatore's life forever. He vows to avenge his father's murder and spends the next year pursuing the killer to Naples and then New York City, where he loses track of him. When he finds him again it is 38 years later and Salvatore, now a wealthy businessman, is able to forgive his father's murderer because of a strange twist of fate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . a compelling new novel, The Rosselli Cantata is a song with various changes in mood and tempo. The style of storytelling is beguilingly Italian." -- The San Diego Union-Tribune, June 15, 2001

"A strong writer with much to say." -- Letter from Robert Giroux of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Publishers

"Maulucci is committed to getting his work out, and Lorenzo Press seems to be holding steady."
"Maulucci is an accomplished writer." -- The New London Day, May 25, 2001and October 24, 1999

“Capturing fear, family, love, hate, and peasant spirituality . . . paints a multi-dimensional picture.” -- Voices in Italian Amreicana, Fall 2001

From the Author

When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother told me the family secret about his life in Italy and unwittingly planted the seed for this novel. However, she was unable to provide many details, so I did research and invented the rest. I was fascinated by the bizarre twist in the fate of his father's killer and my grandfather's chance encounter with him near the end of his life, and I imagined how it made him feel, how it helped him transcend the bitter injustice of an unpunished crime, and how it could have restored his faith in God's love and allowed him to die with peace in his heart. It was an ending I couldn't have made up. I wrote the first draft in New Haven after I returned to the States from Montreal, revised it, and sent it to Robert Giroux at FS&G. He was very encouraging, but I put it aside to work as a freelance writer in NYC. The story wouldn't leave me alone, and I returned to it several years later. It was a book that had to be written.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 121 pages
• Publisher: Lorenzo Pr (March 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964522659
• ISBN-13: 978-0964522657
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,783,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony S. Maulucci is an Italian American poet, novelist and painter. He worked in professional theatre and enjoyed a prominent career as a freelance writer before becoming a college professor of writing and literature. In 1989, he founded the Green Tiger Writers private workshops and in 1995 launched an independent press to bring out his first novel, The Discovery of Luminous Being, followed by Adriana's Eyes and Other Stories, The Rosselli Cantata, Dear Dante, 100 Love Sonnets and Anxious Love. He has also published poetry chapbooks and writing guides for both fiction and poetry. Visit www.lorenzopress.com for further information. He holds an M.A. from Wesleyan University and is a recipient of the Rosengarten Award for Fiction (Harvard University) and the Jordan Davidson Poetry Prize (Barry College). He was born in Hartford, Connecticut and has lived in Boston, Montreal, Toronto, and New York City. He currently resides in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting story that is familiar to me., January 8, 2008

By 

Ginny Northrup Wallace "Genealogy Ginny" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosselli Cantata : A Brief Family Chronicle (Paperback)

This is truly an amazing story because it is based on real events, albeit fictionalized to protect the innocent. My grandmother told me the story of how her father had to leave Italy because of a deaf mute cousin who was killed on his property by accident, how a priest helped him come to America and how she came to America with her step-mother and older brother. Her father had several more children by the 2nd. wife and 2 of those half siblings, sisters, were deaf mutes. It was amazing to read and watch the story unfold from the son's point of view. At a recent reunion with the family it was acknowledged that the true ending of the story was that it really was an accident after all. My cousin, A. S. Maulucci, wrote a beautiful story to immortalize this wonderful Italian family and all of their struggles.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sums up the American immigrant experience, February 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rosselli Cantata : A Brief Family Chronicle (Paperback)

Ever wonder what it was like for the European immigrants who came to America in the early 20th century? This story will show you what it was like to adjust and survive in those difficult times. However, this is not your typical family saga. The central character, Salvatore Rosselli, goes to New York to find the man who murdered his father in Italy with the intention of taking his vengeance and returning home. It doesn't turn out that way, and he must live with the pain and anger which he channels into making money. Isn't that the usual way with first-generation Americans? Ironically, he becomes a success, never returns Italy except for a brief visit on business, has a large family, and just when he's finding some peace, the murderer comes back into his life. This is a universal American story that resonates with all of us, not just Italians.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars written with simplicity and strength, April 30, 2003

By 

Eugene Mirabelli (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosselli Cantata : A Brief Family Chronicle (Paperback)

There are passages in The Rosselli Cantata which are written with the simplicity and strength of a folk tale. Maulucci has a fine grasp of Italian-American life and a lucid style in which to show it. The characters in The Rosselli Cantata are particularly elemental -- the deaf-mute Dominic with those bare feet that looked like the stumps of a tree, the son Salvatore who kneels in the soil of his dead father's farm a generation later and rubs the limestone dirt into his face and weeps until it turns to mud -- these are powerful images. I thought of Cavaleria Rusticana and Pagliacci while reading this brief book; it has the same verismo. -- Eugene Mirabelli, author of The World at Noon