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Sicilian Quilt

by T. V. LoCicero

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Writing her memoirs at 74, a woman looks back at a pivotal moment in her life some five decades ago. In Grosse Pointe, a bastion of American privilege, it was the summer before our rebellious 1960s, and Val at 19 was passionately searching for something more than traditional gender roles. Estranged from her housebound mother and battling her conventional sister, she was deeply attached to her trusted father. But unknown to her, he was quietly playing a key role in the covert system designed to keep unwanted ethnics out of their posh and exclusive suburb. Her sexual awakening would soon flaunt taboos, and her quest to uncover long-buried family secrets would lead to love betrayed and a shocking confrontation that would change her life forever."...powerful...beautifully written...a wonderful read."-Jessica, Amazon reviewer"A very interesting read for its Grosse Pointe history, culture, discrimination and lifestyle."-Robin Houghton, Goodreads… (more)
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At this point, I have read the bulk (all but one novel, I think) of T.V. LoCicero’s oeuvre, and I can tell you that even after all those books, he is for me an author who is full of surprises. The range of his voice and talent continues to surprise me, and the fact that I enjoyed this book—and in the end, I really did—surprises me as well. This is an author who can write hard-boiled crime fiction a la Elmore Leonard, compelling expository prose, and romance novels.

Sicilian Quilt is a family saga written in the voice of Valerie Bradlaw, the story’s protagonist and the rebellious daughter of a couple who live in what is, metaphorically at least, one of the most bourgeois suburbs in the United States, Grosse Pointe, Michigan. If Mr. LoCicero has a standout strength as a writer, as I’ve observed in reviews of his other books, it is his keen eye for the detail of his characters’ lives, and his ability to place it in elegant exposition in order to advance his narratives. So we see Valerie reading On the Road, calling her parents by their given names, and dating young men of contemporaneously (it’s 1959) forbidden ethnicities and cultures.

So, it is in Valerie’s first-person voice that the story unfolds, and what the reader of this novel receives is a bittersweet account of a smart and adventurous young woman just coming into her own in a rapidly changing world. Indeed, the year 1959-1960 serves as the allegorical center of this novel; President Eisenhower, Vice-President Nixon, and a young legislator named John F. Kennedy all serve as metaphors for a United States that is about to change in ways that Valerie and her family will clearly struggle to comprehend.

Why Mr. LoCicero self-publishes remains a bit of an enigma to me, since his are most certainly commercially viable novels. Moreover, as I have mentioned, I think the right commissioning editor, jacket designer, and marketing team could take Mr. LoCicero’s novels into bestseller territory. On the other hand, self-publishing appears to be the direction in which that business is going. If so, T.V. LoCicero is well positioned to continue to get his voice and his compelling characters into the literary marketplace. ( )
  Mark_Feltskog | Dec 23, 2023 |
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Writing her memoirs at 74, a woman looks back at a pivotal moment in her life some five decades ago. In Grosse Pointe, a bastion of American privilege, it was the summer before our rebellious 1960s, and Val at 19 was passionately searching for something more than traditional gender roles. Estranged from her housebound mother and battling her conventional sister, she was deeply attached to her trusted father. But unknown to her, he was quietly playing a key role in the covert system designed to keep unwanted ethnics out of their posh and exclusive suburb. Her sexual awakening would soon flaunt taboos, and her quest to uncover long-buried family secrets would lead to love betrayed and a shocking confrontation that would change her life forever."...powerful...beautifully written...a wonderful read."-Jessica, Amazon reviewer"A very interesting read for its Grosse Pointe history, culture, discrimination and lifestyle."-Robin Houghton, Goodreads

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At 74 a woman looks back at a pivotal moment in her life some five decades ago. In Grosse Pointe, a bastion of American privilege, it was the summer before our rebellious 1960s, and Val at 19 was seriously annoyed with traditional gender roles. Estranged from her housebound mother and battling her conventional sister, she was deeply attached to her father, the driving force behind a covert system designed to keep the wrong ethnics out of their posh suburb. Her sexual awakening would soon flaunt taboos, and her quest to uncover long-buried family secrets would lead to a life-changing confrontation.
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