Reclaim the Present

Back from his adventure in the Circolo di Conversazione (in FORGET THE PAST, Book One of the Fear of the Past Trilogy), Tony meets Lucia in a bar mistaking her for the Duchess of Floridia. She has the same beauty and charm but she is a young interior designer, very much a 21st century woman, emancipated and free. She takes him on a visit to a villa she is restoring that once belonged to the Bellomo family. It is spectacularly built on the famous 'Latomie del Paradiso', precipitous limestone quarries dating back to ancient Greek times. In the course of a romantic picnic, Tony slips and falls, losing consciousness. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the body of an old man, inhabiting his mind, aware of all his emotions and memories. He's become Don Antonio, his own great-great-grandfather, a man born in 1830 - the last of the powerful Bellomos. This is 1908, a difficult moment in Sicilian history as Italian unity kicks in and an industrial boom is under way. Businessmen from Northern Italy try to wrench economic power from the Sicilians. The old man is faced with the task of replacing his lazy eldest son with someone better able to manage the family's wealth and address the challenges of the changing times. His second son given to womanizing and gambling is a hopeless case, and he places all his hopes on Luigi, his third son. A natural risk-taker with a strong business sense, he is the obvious candidate. He looks surprisingly like Tony and is married to Anna, a lovely woman, who reminds Tony of Lucia. Tony is increasingly restless at being trapped in the old man's body. Destiny deals a series of fatal blows to the family as he watches on. Can he influence the old man's behavior and change the family destiny? If not, can he return to his own time? Can he reclaim the present and win Lucia's love?PRAISE for FEAR OF THE PAST originally published in Italian under the title Un Amore Dimenticato by E. Romeo Editore (2007, Syracuse) On publication it was reviewed by literary critics in the main Sicilian journals: It is a historical novel without being one. It is historical in the sense that there are historical characters like the Duchess of FloridiaThe story is told in a non-historical manner : emotional, but above all fantastic, surreal, meta-psychical, out of time and reality. In fact, it tells the love story between a man of our times and a woman born two hundred years ago (Arturo Messina in Libert An authentic excursion in the past that enables the protagonist to 'view' certain historic events, like the assault on the castle of Judica or life at the royal court in Palermo (Lucia Corsale in La Sicilia )To dream with open eyes through Time This well-written book is set in modern-day Sicily but travels through time. It is born from the idea that in every new love there is always the reflection of a forgotten love, because we all carry within ourselves fragments of the past (Pino Nucifora in Diario Siracusa PRAISE for FORGET THE PAST, first book in the Fear of the Past Trilogy (excerpts): This could be the Harry Potter of history for adults and teens looking for fantasy, romance and history rolled into one. It's a page turner in that it's full of surprises (P.Inez Erica Impie)a paranormal, romance with a historical dimension that takes you into the beautiful island of Sicily (Faith Mortimer)Unlike anything I have ever read, Forget the Past manages to delve a little into the history of many a character while creating very human tales of tragedy and love The stories were easy to visualize and I would love to see this book made into a movie (Suzy Turner)What I liked most is that this book is symbolic of universal emotions and human foibles, sometimes making them larger than lifeThis book will read easily and keep you thinking (Karen Rose Smith) more than a paranormal romance: it has a historical dimension that takes you into the spirit of the Sicilian soul (Giuseppe Bonanno)