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Back to topMy Dear Antonio: A Love Story (Paperback)
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Description
This fictional imagining of a documented family history is pure literary alchemy. Ryan Barnes personalizes the desperate poverty that drove his grandparents to emigrate to America along with so many others, as well as the omnipresent menaces of disease, financial collapse, and political corruption woven into the fabric of early 20th century life. Impeccably researched as well as heartfelt and captivating, this is a must-read for fans of historical fiction and true-life love stories alike.
— Erica Obey, author of The Brooklyn North Murders
My Dear Antonio is a novel inspired by the true love story of Byrnes’ great-grandparents— children of the Sicilian diaspora separated from their families on the Mediterranean coast who loved, parted, and found each other again seven years and three continents later.
In 1912, after barely medicating herself against a near-fatal asthma attack, Sicilian emigrant Anna DiNicola reluctantly leaves her family's Brooklyn tenement to seek a cure in the balmy climate of Tunisia. She is one of the few American immigrants to return to the Old World. In Tunisia, she detests how her asthma renders her dependent on her aunt, so she works for independence by learning to weave traditional wedding shawls for the Sephardic Jewish community.
However, her apprenticeship comes with an expectation that she will marry her mentor’ s son while her heart lies with someone else. Antonio Orlando, a Sicilian native, dreams of working in his father’ s barber shop. But, Mafia shootings force his father to close the shop and emigrate to America, abandoning Antonio in the Old World.
To avoid slavery under the Mafia, Antonio moves in with his uncle, a barber in Tunisia. Antonio swears he will one day return to Sicily and rebuild his family’ s barber shop, hoping it will inspire his father to return. He befriends Anna during her regular haircuts and begins to wonder if home is not a place, but rather a person.
When he accepts a betrothal to his cousin that would enable him to return to Sicily, Antonio must choose between his duty to family and his heart.
About the Author
Ryan Byrnes was born on a nuclear missile base during an active tornado, an utterly tranquil debut that has no doubt mirrored his writing career. Ryan is the great-grandson of Sicilian immigrants, and he dreams to tell their globe-spanning story. His previous historical fiction novel Royal Beauty Bright won a gold medal in the 2020 IPBA. His work has been published in Italian America, Pembroke, December, Sixfold, and more. He has worked with three indie publishing companies and one literary agency, and he attended the New York University Summer Publishing Institute.
Praise For…
"[Royal Beauty Bright is] an engrossing, transporting, and eminently readable historical tale" —Debra Marquart, Pulitzer-nominated author of The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories
"[Royal Beauty Bright is] a brilliant, heartfelt tale that is truly a joy to read." —Jathan Fink of jathanandheather.com
"This fictional imagining of a documented family history is pure literary alchemy. Ryan Barnes personalizes the desperate poverty that drove his grandparents to emigrate to America along with so many others, as well as the omnipresent menaces of disease, financial collapse, and political corruption woven into the fabric of early 20th century life. Impeccably researched as well as heartfelt and captivating, this is a must-read for fans of historical fiction and true-life love stories alike." —Erica Obey, author of The Brooklyn North Murders
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