My first book, "The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany," was inspired by experiences of my cousin who, with other people from her village, fled to the hills and stayed in a farmhouse during the German occupation of WWII. The sequel, "Sparrow's Revenge: A Novel of Postwar Tuscany," described the relentless search by a member of the Resistance to find the collaborator of one of the worst massacres in Italy during the war. IIn the third, Dino’s Story: A Novel of 1960s Tuscany, a boy came of age during the devastating flood of Florence in 1966. Then the characters entered a new decade in The Temptation of Father Lorenzo: Ten Stories of 1970s Tuscany.Now these characters, along with a few new friends and relatives, return in A Piazza for Sant’Antonio, Five Novellas of 1980s Tuscany. Normal 0 0 1 54 309 2 1 379 11.1539 0 0 0

"The Cielo" won first place for Fiction from the Council for Wisconsin Writers, first place for fiction from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association, first honorable mention from Writer's Digest international Self-Published Book Awards and honorable mention at the New York Book Festival. "Sparrow's Revenge" won honorable mentions from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association and the New York Book Festival. "The Temptation of Father Lorenzo" won first place from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association and honorable mention from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.