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.

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.

Fourth book in the Tales from Tipperary series; exploring community in an ancient and spiritual country

**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.

Erskine Caldwell has been compared to literary giants like Faulkner and Hemingway, yet he has also been reviled as peddler of pop trash. Was he a genius, or just a shooting star whose brilliance faded long before he stopped writing? Caldwell began his career in the late 1920s and gained fame for revealing the gritty backwoods South in novels such as his seminal Tobacco Road. He wrote prolifically, sometimes as much as a book a year. As the editor of this book maintains, perhaps anyone who wrote so much would inevitably stumble. These 12 essays explore a variety of issues. They discuss Caldwell as humorist, social commentator, modernist, and revolutionary novelist. They examine his themes and tropes (political images, social injustice, the environment, ideological struggles) and his use of artistic devices (short stories, cubist strategies, repetition). A generous bibliography includes not only books on Caldwell but also chapters and forewords, journal articles, essays, news items and obituaries. The reader is encouraged to look at Caldwell with fresh eyes, to press beyond his controversial image, and to compare his works, especially his early ones, to those of any of the top names in literature.

“A valuable publication . . . A social historical case study of the conflicts of conscience experienced by countless families during the Civil War” (Civil War Books and Authors). When war broke out in 1861, Christian and Elise Dubach Isely, soon to be married, found themselves in the midst of the conflict. Having witnessed the atrocities of Bleeding Kansas firsthand and fearful of what would come from this war, Christian enlisted with the 2nd Kansas Cavalry to fight alongside Union forces. During the next three years, the couple would write hundreds of letters to each other, as well as to friends and family members. Their writings survive today, providing a unique look at the Civil War—one of both military and civilian perspectives—in a passionate exchange between husband and wife in which the war, faith, and family are discussed openly and frankly. Includes photos