Terranova, A Remembrance
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Mario Terranova was quietly celebrating his eighty first birthday gazing out at the Pacific Ocean from the balcony of his home in Newport Beach, California. It was enjoyable to watch the scantily clad young ladies relaxing on the beach, soaking up the sun. They were there to display their hard bodies for the surfers or the older, appreciative men like himself. Though he was still in marvelous physical condition, he thought to himself, “You old voyeur.”
He toasted himself with a glass of Ruffino Chianti, holding a picture of his beloved Sarah and his five children. Though the pain of his oldest son dying a hero in the Viet Nam war at twenty-one years old would never leave him.
As his eyes grew misty, he wondered out loud, “Where did it all go? It seems like my eighty one years went by in the blink of an eye.” He didn’t say it regretfully, only in the sudden realization that all he had left in his life were memories that ran the gamut from ecstasy to despair. He had been able to withdraw himself into the background of his Societa d’Italia and Fratelli d’Garibaldi families because of the people he had wisely surrounded himself with throughout the years. At this moment, the Societa and the Fratelli’s purpose and history were not important.
He put the picture and the glass of wine on the end table beside him . As he gazed at the distant horizon, with the sparkling sunlight creating a myriad of twinkling jewels, the peaceful sight opened the floodgates of a panorama of eighty-one years of glorious triumphs and crushing defeats. How marvelous that a human’s mind could travel to any point in time and relive that moment.
His children had tried so many times to get him to move with them, but having been independent all his life, and healthy, he always respectfully declined. He never brought up the fact that he was more or less obligated to remain in an area where he was easily accessible to his people. He had promised his father that no one else in his immediate family would be involved in the affairs they had transacted all their lives….No one! He remembered the last birthday he spent with Sarah, over thirty years ago, though it seemed now like an eternity, dancing like little children throughout the house to Sinatra’s music. The thought of her gave him the ambivalent feeling of sadness at her untimely death, and the great warmth of her love. “Mia bella donna” he’d always say in Italian. They had managed to create a great life together even though they came from two very different religious worlds, one Catholic and the other Jewish. After finally realizing what a wonderful person he had married, he abandoned the old Italian tradition handed down from his father and grandfather. “Always love and take care of your wife first, but do not turn down a beautiful lady that is willing to make love to you. There was that moment in his life when holding and being close to Sarah one evening, he understood that this was the one time in his close relationship with his father that Mario knew that the “old tradition” was dead wrong. There could never be another lady like Sarah…
Mario had the sudden impulse to get up, go to his library, and from the numerical photo albums lined on an eye level shelf, he pulled out the one marked number one. He sat down and opened the album, on whose first page was marked “Armando con Aurora,” his father and mother, and the first page was dated May seventeenth, nineteen oh nine. He felt the tears begin rolling down his cheeks as he looked at the handsome man and the slender, lovely lady he was holding. As he turned the pages, the stories his father would tell him in confidence when Mario was a young man came clearly into focus.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
This is the story of three generations of an Italian family proving that anything is possible with honor, dedication and high ideals, and most important of all, the courage to back up those ideals, no matter what the consequences. The Terranova family proves once again that this country became great because of the grit, determination and hard work of immigrants from all over the world.
It is about the ageing, but still commanding grandfather, Stefano, who started the cycle. Armando, the heroic son, who left his family and the safety of the United States to volunteer to fight for his country in World War I when Italy first became involved in the fighting. Armando’s son, Mario, who fought bravely with the Marines in Shanghai, China, before the outbreak of World War II and because of a tragic incident, which he tried to avoid, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Through good behavior and the efforts of his father, he was released after serving twenty-six months.
Mario’s hatred for the drug traffic in the United States, and his fight to give Italian immigrants a solid foothold in America, made him a role model for all the people that came to this country to find a better life. When he became a business tycoon, he gave lavishly to all organizations that were supported by donor contributions.
Mario and his wife Sarah brought up five wonderful children. His oldest son, Steven, was killed in action in Vietnam and was awarded the Silver Star posthumously, an incident that caused the untimely death of his beloved wife.
There are moments of violence, tender love, and redemption. The Terranova family overcame all obstacles to making their sphere of influence a better place.About the Author
This is the first novel by me, Steven J. Morabito. I worked on it for five years. It required patience, research and the critique of my wife and daughter, going over every chapter. I found myself not being able to sit at my computer more than two hours at a time, which slowed down the progress of the book.
I have written dozens of lyrics in collaboration with various composers. Through the years, my songs have been sung by various artists. At this point in my life, I feel that this novel is my greatest achievement.
I live in Henderson, Nevada with my lovely wife Marilyn. We have four grown children who live all over the United States.
The early part of this book is the story of my father, a boss in the New York area at the beginning of the twentieth century. Before America joined WWI, he fought with Italy and was a hero during the critical Piave River Battle. The book is both fact and fiction. My father always taught me that the end justifies the means and not all Italians are gangsters. I grew up in a house with love, music and many secrets.