This is the last of the words from a loving farmer to his second daughter. Will that ever be Folk’ followed by his daughter as a loving mother of three handsome sons Benjamin, Daniel and Scott she became the loving grandmother of six beautiful tall blonde granddaughters Sam, Megan, Susan, Amanda, Christie and Angel all of them the issue of blonde son Campbell, (Sonnie Dearest), spare her harsh words there is no malice intended. My darling husband Captain Allan and I are still contented and happy together well into our eighties and hope to reach our nineties as we have suffered so much through youth ignorance and separations. We were hard workers and as you are all farming stock you will be too. We wish you lots of love, happiness, a long life and comfort with a faithful partner if you want that. “If you lie upon roses when young expect thorns later on”.
The lives of Angelo Cavallaro and Angela Gravagna are entwined in a backdrop set in the coastal areas of the Province of Catania, Sicily, and moves onto the northern hillsides of the active volcano, Mount Etna. They are traced from their early childhoods, where they lived as peasants during the reconstruction of Italy and Sicily, through their immigration to America. The journey of Angelo, Angela, and their six children begins in the tiny village of Passopisciaro and continues as they travel to Palermo in1913 to board a ship and sail across the Atlantic Ocean. You share and experience their fears as they pass through Ellis Island, and their joys of eventually arriving to their new home in Rochester, New York. In this sensitive memoir, the author attempts to do what most Italians only dream of - to piece together all the stories parents have retold their children over the generations; from their struggles and humble beginnings, to the joys they shared with their extended families in later years. In chapters that examine individual members of his family and highlights their life achievements, the reader gains a better understanding of the unique characteristics that all immigrants have in common. The memories recorded are a tribute to the legacy they left; lessons about life, responsibility, self-respect, and love of family. It is written with gratitude to all immigrants; our ancestral grandfathers and grandmothers, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. These were the risk-takers and pioneers, who were willing to sacrifice personal comfort in order to provide a better life for their families in an unknown world. A narrative that honors our link to the past through the memories they left behind, My Sicilian Legacy is a chronicle focusing on the importance of family life and the pride in maintaining ethnic roots. It is a description of how the ordinary events that shape and mold character, thinking, aspirations, and joys can be achieved through hard work and perseverance - the early immigrants gave of themselves so their children would attain a better lifestyle. Richard Cavallaro traces his own ancestral history to this area of Sicily and paints a vivid picture of the events that occurred through three generations, which eventually led to the creation of My Sicilian Legacy; a tribute that many Italians and Sicilians will share with pride.
From the time Christina Stead, a shy Australian girl in London, met William J Blake, a cosmopolitan American, theirs was one of the great love stories. This work presents the correspondence that records their lives together from 1928 until Blake's death in 1968. It gives a glimpse into the life and thoughts of one of Australia's renowned novelist.
It has been more than sixty years since anyone called author Ron Gabriel Sonny. The nickname was bestowed upon him back in Delaware, Ohio, and it carried through the 1940s and 50s. Back then, Sonny was a carefree kid who spent his days running around the neighborhood with his buddies, getting into the occasional scuffle and scrape. Six decades later, how things have changed. Sonny is the true account of a young man who lived out his days in the Midwest. Back then, there was no such thing as Little League; the kids made their own games instead, running and playing as they chose. As Sonny grew up, so did his interests. He bought his first car for forty dollars and nicknamed it The Green Spleen. He met the love of his life and became a husband and fatherand, eventually, a grandfather. Intended to entertain, amuse, and inform, Sonny offers a detailed recording of how the world once was, before the existence of cell phones and the Internet. Gabriel played witness to several events in history, but he also created his own history as a grandfather and an Ohio State fan. Take a step back to another time, when things were more innocent, people moved a bit slower, and young Sonny dreamed of an unknown future.
THE REDEMPTION SERIES: 100 years after Margaret Anne transformed an American family, comes the profound 4-part finale to the Calhoun saga. BOOK TWO: Convergence Sacrifice birthed the unsettled world of Margaret Anne. Now, only surrender can pave the way for closure. Benjamin Mattingly Sonneman, a prisoner and captive to the sins of the past, has been tasked with delivering an ancient and valuable cross to its rightful guardian and heir – his estranged child – in Baltimore. As he prepares for his journey, he learns of the inspirational history behind the artifact, the shadowy lineage that binds cross to child, and receives warnings of the adversities he will confront along the way. Soon after embarking on his quest, time spent with his dubious travel companion begins to unravel the miserable realities of Matthew’s own haunted past and illuminate the mistakes that ensnared him within the unstoppable odyssey of the cross. When Matthew repeatedly ignores reminders regarding the importance of his faith and the traditions of those he represents on his sacred pilgrimage, he must answer to the consequences of his choices. And with every added hurdle to his course, the crushing storm of uncertainty over what truly awaits him in Baltimore relentlessly intensifies, threatening to consume him whole. “Convergence” is the captivating continuation of the Redemption series, uncovering the next intricate layer to the Margaret Anne saga of fate, faith, and reckoning.
Life in the largely rural county of Dorset has not always been idyllic, for over the years it has experienced numerous murders, some of which are little known outside the county borders, others that have shocked the nation. These include arguments between lovers with fatal consequences, family murders, child murders and mortal altercations at Dorset's notorious Portland Prison. The entire country thrilled to the scandalous cases of Alma Rattenbury and Charlotte Bryant who, in the 1930s, found living with their husbands so difficult that both found a terminal solution to the problem. In 1856, Elizabeth Browne rid herself of a husband and, in doing so, became the inspiration for Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. The mystery of the Coverdale Kennels at Tarrant Keynston, where not one, but two kennel managers died in suspicious circumstances, remains unsolved to this day. And it was in Bournemouth that Neville Heath committed the second of his two murders, which led to his arrest and eventual execution in 1946. Illustrated with fifty intriguing illustrations, Dorset Murders will appeal to anyone interested in the shady side of county's history.
Troika is a docu-drama about the Russian revolution, the romance of freedom, and the eternal dream of utopia. Between Stalin and Mau over a hundred million people have died in the name of communisim. Where is the good in that?
**Winner of the American Book Award (2023)** **Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award (2023)** The long-awaited first full biography of legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins Sonny Rollins has long been considered an enigma. Known as the “Saxophone Colossus,” he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time, winning Grammys, the Austrian Cross of Honor, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize and a National Medal of Arts. A bridge from bebop to the avant-garde, he is a lasting link to the golden age of jazz, pictured in the iconic “Great Day in Harlem” portrait. His seven-decade career has been well documented, but the backstage life of the man once called “the only jazz recluse” has gone largely untold—until now. Based on more than 200 interviews with Rollins himself, family members, friends, and collaborators, as well as Rollins’ extensive personal archive, Saxophone Colossus is the comprehensive portrait of this legendary saxophonist and composer, civil rights activist and environmentalist. A child of the Harlem Renaissance, Rollins’ precocious talent landed him on the bandstand and in the recording studio with Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, or playing opposite Billie Holiday. An icon in his own right, he recorded Tenor Madness, featuring John Coltrane; Way Out West; Freedom Suite, the first civil rights-themed album of the hard bop era; A Night at the Village Vanguard; and the 1956 classic Saxophone Colossus. Yet his meteoric rise to fame was not without its challenges. He served two sentences on Rikers Island and won his battle with heroin addiction. In 1959, Rollins took a two-year sabbatical from recording and performing, practicing up to 16 hours a day on the Williamsburg Bridge. In 1968, he left again to study at an ashram in India. He returned to performing from 1971 until his retirement in 2012. The story of Sonny Rollins—innovative, unpredictable, larger than life—is the story of jazz itself, and Sonny’s own narrative is as timeless and timely as the art form he represents. Part jazz oral history told in the musicians’ own words, part chronicle of one man’s quest for social justice and spiritual enlightenment, this is the definitive biography of one of the most enduring and influential artists in jazz and American history.
