Carcaterra, Lorenzo

Details author Lorenzo Carcaterra's memories of how three women shaped and influenced the course of his life. First, his Italian grandmother offered him respite from his difficult home life and provided examples of courage during the Nazi occupation. Second, his mother taught him harsh lessons in survival and pushing himself toward a better life. And third, his loving wife of three decades became a champion of his work and showed him the power of storytelling.

Four friends from New York's Hell's Kitchen suffer a year of humiliation, beatings, and sexual abuse at the hands of Sean Nokes and his flunkies at the Wilkinson Boy's Home, leaving lasting scars that haunt them into adulthood. When Nokes is murdered by two of the group, the other two enact aplot to twist the legal system to their advantage and not only free their friends, but get revenge on the men who had tortured them when they were helpless prisoners.

Four friends from New York's Hell's Kitchen suffer a year of humiliation, beatings, and sexual abuse at the hands of Sean Nokes and his flunkies at the Wilkinson Boy's Home, leaving lasting scars that haunt them into adulthood. When Nokes is murdered by two of the group, the other two enact a plot to twist the legal system to their advantage and not only free their friends, but get revenge on the men who had tortured them when they were helpless prisoners.

Sixteen-year-old Vincenzo Soldari gathers a ragtag crew of children and outsiders left in the bombed out city of Naples to mount an attack against the invading forces of Hitler.

Sixteen-year-old Vincenzo Soldari gathers a ragtag crew of children and outsiders left in the bombed out city of Naples to mount an attack against the invading forces of Hitler.