Bücher von John Michele

Do you know what night crawlers are? They make great bait for fishermen who are not squeamish about dirty hands.This story begins when two boys, age thirteen, decide to earn a little money selling worms to a bait shop and are once again together on the thirtieth anniversary of a life-changing discovery. Wakefield, their town and its people, are a part of who they are, especially for young Dolf, who has two important reasons for his trips from New York City to his boyhood home.You see, he was an orphan and was adopted into an Italian American family who live on the wrong side of the tracks in an area known as the Gulch. His friend, Jay, comes from one of the towns oldest Yankee families, dating way back to the 1600. What do they have in common? Is it just the murders that took place back in August 1958?Have you ever had the opportunity to return to your hometown for more than a few days? Was it as you remember, did anyone recognize you as you walked its wide main street? Are the folks different from people in the big apple? Every time he returns, Dolf has the same questions, who am I and who killed my old neighbors from the Gulch?

John Verra is a young man moving to a much bigger stage. He arrives with a love and belief in the founding principles of our country. He is not in Washington, DC, but living in another shinning city on a hill, or so he believes, Boston, Massachusetts, a town where he attended college and falls in love.As a member of the city council, a seat in Boston's governing body, attained because of the sacrifice of a new friend, he eventually realizes he is politically naive and inexperienced and to some of like mind, to be worthy of their attention. To others to be used.Who should he trust? Too many in and out of government have their own personal agendas. So does he. His beliefs about government are based upon essentially three human qualities--a passion for power and where it can take one, personal freedom, not given by the laws of government but by God; and the recognition that none of us are angels.Why does he visit the country of his grandparents, Sicily? What is he looking for, and where will it take him with his beliefs strengthened or compromise to get along as do many?

It is written that all is fair in love and war. Politics is war. That came home to John Verra, at first, slowly, then in one inhuman act of violence... "e;The lust for power in political minds is the strongest passion in life and it impels ambitious men to do deeds of infamy"e; (William Shakespeare).Verra believes promises made are promises meant to be kept. His beliefs, to many in his new world, are naive, gullible, and no way to live, especially if one is to survive in a big metropolitan city, where lots of money is to be made involving legal and illegal manipulation. Their primary need is forever present: to remain in power, to control voters, to use them, especially the poor.His past and his own promises continue to occupy not just his mind but his soul as well. In politics, the opponents are capable and willing to go back to the grave to dig up the bad. What does John Verra have to hide? Will he tell us? Can he be used?

These events took place during prohibition, World War II, and the time after the war was won, during the '40s and '50s. The immigrants and first- and second-generation Americans were closely loved family members who always had one another's back while striving to reach their dreams of security and wealth.It's a story of a young family member who experienced most of what happened, good and bad, in life at a young age. Each individual is based upon a person that lived, to a degree, more or less, through the events as they happened. Dishonest, self-serving government people and how they used their authority to cheat and lie at the expense of anyone in their way, especially the immigrants, give reason for actions taken that were felt to be necessary even though gruesome. This story will appeal to all immigrants, but especially, to Sicilian Italians, and their extended families.Giovanni, be well.