Bøger af Roland Merullo

A harrowing historical novel of the extraordinary acts of ordinary people in Nazi-occupied Italy in 1943. While risking his life to free his country, Luca is also struggling to protect Sarah, his Jewish lover who's hiding in a mountain cabin. As the violent Nazi occupation intensifies, Luca and Sarah fear for more than their own lives.

It's 1945. The Nazi occupation of Italy is in its closing days. But risk is ever present. It's been nearly two years since Sarah Zinsi found tenuous sanctuary in Switzerland. Unmoored in a foreign land, she heeds a rumor that her village on the Lake Como shore has been liberated. Clutching her young daughter, Sarah navigates the arduous mountain trek back home to be with Luca Benedetto, the father of her child. A resister to the end, Luca has one last assignment: assassinate Mussolini, the man who destroyed everything Luca cherished and who forced the love of his life to flee. Sarah's path crosses that of a charismatic and kindly black marketeer turned partisan spy. He vows to keep mother and child safe as Luca's perilous mission escalates and the Nazis' final moves devolve into chaos. But for Sarah and Luca, the pull of love, the will to survive, and the promise of a new family are greater than any odds against them.

Part novel of suspense, part family drama, The Return follows six characters originally introduced in Roland Merullo's bestselling novel Revere Beach Boulevard. Kirkus Magazine praised Boulevard in a starred review saying, "If Coppola or Scorsese ever repent for their glamorization of the underworld, this is the perfect novel to bring to the big screen." These lives have been sewn together by love, addiction, and deceit. Peter Imbesalacqua is living in Montana in the witness protection program. A former gambling addict, he went deep in debt to a mob figure in his hometown of Revere, Massachusetts, bravely wore a wire at their last meeting, then had to flee. Now he's happily married, with an adopted son, but he longs for his hometown, and especially misses his aging father. Vito Imbesalacqua, Peter's dad, lives alone in the family home, visited occasionally by his daughter and illegitimate son, Alfonse, and tormented by the mistakes he's made and the way they damaged his family. Joanie Imbesalacqua is obsessed with finding the mobster her brother Peter sent into hiding. She believes - correctly, as it turns out - that this evil man will one day return to Revere to seek revenge on her family. Locally famous, secretly gay, Joanie is torn between ambition and family, fury and love. Alfonse Romano is a local police captain, son of Vito, engaged to a woman who fled the Cambodian Holocaust and worried about Joanie, Vito, and Peter. Dutiful, kind, the ultimate straight-arrow, he came of age not knowing the identity of his true father and he and Vito are now rebuilding their relationship. Eddie Crevine was once a mafia captain. When Peter tape-recorded his threats he was forced to leave Revere with his wife, Alicia, and - like Peter - live in hiding under a false name. Vicious, racist, utterly self-centered, Eddie is haunted by what he sees as Peter's betrayal of the codes of their hometown. Thousands of miles apart, very different men, Peter and Eddie decide to return to Revere at the same time, drawing all of the characters into a vortex of violence and grace.

"Italy, 1943. The seeds of terror planted by Hitler have brought Allied forces to Italian soil. Young lovers separated by war - one near a Tuscan hill town, the other a soldier on the Sicilian front - will meet any challenge to reunite. Vittoria SanAntonio, the daughter of a prosperous vineyard owner, is caught in a web of family secrets. Defying her domineering father, she has fallen for humble vineyard keeper Carlo Conte. When Carlo is conscripted into Mussolini's army, it sets a fire in Vittoria, and she joins the resistance. As the Nazi war machine encroaches, Vittoria is drawn into dangers as unknowable as those faced by the man she loves. Badly wounded on the first day of the invasion, Carlo regains consciousness on a farm in Sicily. Nursed back to health by a kind family there, he embarks on an arduous journey north through his ravaged homeland. For Carlo and Vittoria, as wartime threats mount and their paths diverge, what lies ahead will test their courage as never before." --Back cover.

A novella that features the main characters from Roland Merullos beloved Buddha Trilogy (Breakfast with Buddha, Lunch with Buddha, and Dinner with Buddha) and explores issues of weight loss and addiction. Ive been fascinated for a long time, Merullo

Selected as one of the 10 Wonderful Romance Novels by Good Housekeeping magazine, A Little Love Story is a sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious tale of attraction and loyalty, jealousy and grief. It's a classic love story-with some modern twists. Janet Rossi is a very smart aide to the governor of Massachusetts, but she suffers from an illness that makes her, as she puts it, not exactly a good long-term investment. Jake Entwhistle is a few years older, a carpenter and portrait painter, also smart-but with a shadow over his romantic history. After meeting when Janet accidentally backs into Jake's antique truck, they begin a love affair marked by courage, humor, a deep and erotic intimacy . . . and modern complications. Thoughtful, restrained (yet very sexy). . . . Roland Merullo captures what it feels like when you meet 'the one'-and what you're willing to do to hold onto that person, wrote The New York Times.

Every day around the globe there are billions of acts of kindness, courage, generosity, and grace - but we rarely get to hear much about them. It is easier to write about the evil in the world than about the good. Writers who focus on violence, greed, ugliness, and hypocrisy can appear more sophisticated, more intelligent, more mature, more aware of the world's true nature. Award-winning author Roland Merullo recognizes these challenges to humankind as clearly as anyone, but also believes they get more than their share of coverage, and that cargo of bad news can act as an oppressive weight on the mind. At the start of a recent gray, cold, New England winter, Merullo decided to make a list of some of the remarkable acts he has witnessed, and the generous, kind, and brave people he has had the good fortune to know. Moments of Grace and Beauty is intended to serve as a counterweight to the abundance of trouble in the news, and is offered as evidence of the good will still present on earth.

Part family saga, part suspense novel, The Return tells the story of two very different men-underworld boss and compulsive gambler-and the people who love them. Peter Imbesalacqua, deep in debt when he made the mistake of borrowing money from Eddie Crevine, wore a wire to a last, fateful meeting with Crevine. That recording sent Eddie into hiding and Peter into the Witness Protection Program. Now some time has passed, and for different reasons, both men feel drawn to return to Revere, Massachusetts, the city where they were born and raised. Eddie, miserable and driven half-crazy by his secret Florida exile, wants revenge. And Peter, also miserable in his secret Montana exile, tells himself he just wants to see his aging father one more time. The Return wanders through the territories of anger and compulsion, but along the way it touches, as well, upon love and strength and regret and sacrifice, a cauldron of human emotion that reaches its boiling point in a shocking climax.

"Italy, 1943. The Nazi occupation has cemented its grip on the devastated city of Naples. Giuseppe DiPietra, a curator in the National Archives, has a subversive plan to aid the Allies. If he's discovered, forced labor or swift execution. Lucia Pastone, secretary for the Italian Fascist government, is risking her own life in secret defiance of orders. And Lucia's father, Aldo, is a black marketeer who draws Giuseppe and Lucia into the underworld--for their protection and to help plant the seeds of resistance. Their fates are soon intertwined with those of Aldo's devoted lover and a boy of the streets who'll do anything to live another day. And all of Naples is about to join forces to overcome impossible odds and repel the Nazi occupiers"--

When his sister tricks him into taking her guru on a trip to their childhood home, Otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he'd planned. But in an effort to westernize his passengerand amuse himselfhe decides to show the monk some American fun along the way. From a chocolate factory in Hershey to a bowling alley in South Bend, from a Cubs game at Wrigley field to his family farm near Bismarck, Otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his worldand more important, his lifethrough someone else's eyes. Gradually, skepticism yields to amazement as he realizes that his companion might just be the real thing. In Roland Merullo's masterful hands, Otto tells his story with all the wonder, bemusement, and wry humor of a man who unwittingly finds what he's missing in the most unexpected place.

Cynthia lives an unassuming life and experiences "spells" of intense spiritual intimacy. Devoted to her elderly Dad and not interested in socializing, she develops a deep friendship with a supportive priest. When he is killed in a mysterious accident, a message begins to emerge from Cynthia's prayers. Best of 2013 List-Publishers Weekly.

A hilarious account of one absolutely disastrous Italian vacation, a story full of illness and good food, cold houses and warm people, bad decisions, marital spats, and family love. True in every detail, it is the tale of a trip award-winning author Roland Merullo made with his wife of many years, their two young children, and his brave octogenarian mother in an attempt to escape the New England winter and enjoy Italian cuisine, architecture, warm weather, and each other. Shortly after arriving at their rental house north of Rome, however, the Merullo family finds itself neck-deep in a swamp of misfortune. A stomach flu takes hold of their younger daughter and will not let go. The house is freezing cold, isolated, and patrolled by a pack of pesky mongrels. Hoping to escape the situation, the family heads south on a 500 mile drive, only to encounter, among a cast of eccentric characters, more bad luck. Their ability to cope - sometimes - and laugh - afterwards - forms the heart of Taking the Kids to Italy.

A family rallies around an errant son, even as a long-hidden secret that has touched all their lives comes to the surface. "The Boston Globe" selected "Revere Beach Boulevard" as one of its Top 100 Essential New England Books and author Richard Russo called it ," . . a great novel --ambitious, heartfelt, and oh-so skilled." 322 pp.

"Merullo skillfully explores the lives of ordinary people caught in a dramatic transference of power . . . it is smoothly written and multifaceted, solidly depicting the isolation and poverty of a city far removed from Moscow and insightfully exploring the psyches of individuals caught in the conflicts between their ideals and their careers."--"Publishers Weekly"

Merullo shares his spiritual, intellectual, and emotional discoveries, writing about his relationship with his father, his working class upbringing and upper class education, the early years of his marriage, and the gift of children. 204 pp.

From chapters entitled "Writer's Block" to "Finding a Mentor" to "Impatience and Rejection," Merullo covers these topics with the insight, empathy, and encouragement of an author who has been there, in this no-nonsense handbook and guide for aspiring and established writers alike. His works have been praised by "The Boston Globe" and "Kirkus Reviews."

Leo Markin, a young U.S. Marine and Vietnam combat veteran who survived the war, found himself so changed by the experience that he simply could not find a way to return to his home, family, and his fiance in a working class city of his birth outside of Boston. He is torn between the peaceful, natural way of life on the island of Losapas and the rougher rules of his upbringing. 304 pp.

lf life is a journey, then Otto Ringling is on the journey of a lifetime. Looking for answers, he calls Volya Rinpoche, a wise man and spiritual leader. A man who accepts the world as it comes to him. Someone who is experiencing his own time of doubt. So, in hopes of finding answers, the two embark on a journey through America.