Amedeo, a historical novel, is set in Trieste, in the final days of World War II.  The brothers, now in their 50s, haven’t spoken to each other in 20 years.  Their paths diverged as they began their careers.  Umberto became a banker, and Amedeo rejected the white-collar world and became a trolley driver.  Umberto fell under the spell of Gabriele D’Annunzio’s romanticism and nationalism.  Amedeo met Antonio Gramsci, the intellectual leader of the Italian Communist Party.  Umberto joined Mussolini’s Fascist Party and became moderately wealthy as a banker.  Amedeo lived simply and put all his money into buying books for the fellow trolley drivers that he was teaching how to read.  In 1925, the rift was complete upon the occasion of the baptism of Umberto’s son, Stelio.  Umberto snubbed Amedeo and chose his wife’s teenage brother to be the child’s godfather.

In April of 1945, the Yugoslav Army arrives in Trieste as the retreating German army vacates the city.  A wave of revenge killings begins, focused on Fascists and Nazi collaborators.  Amedeo learns that Umberto is targeted.  He must decide whether and, if so, how to protect his brother, knowing full well that by intervening he will put his own life at risk.

I’ve been working on this novel now for a year, on and off, stealing time between the consulting projects that constitute my “day job.”  Thanks to my writing group, I’ve made tremendous progress.  Along the way, I’ve identified a number of questions I can’t answer without additional research in Trieste — places, sights and sounds, historical details.  In a separate post, I report on the Grants for Artist Projects (GAP) grant I received from Seattle’s Artist Trust to support that research.

I’ve also put a lot of time into understanding the literary history of Trieste, particularly the influence of D’Annunzio, Gramsci, James Joyce and Italo Svevo on Umberto and Amedeo.

A shooting scene took me away from the keyboard for a few hours.  I had to learn about World War II weapons, the details of bullet wounds, and first aid practices of the period.  I even did a round of test firing to make sure the way I imagined the scene has some realism.

I’m at a point now where I’m submitting excerpts to professional journals and writing contests.  For a former marketing guy, this work amounts to test marketing.

As for the project as a whole?  I’ve never had so much fun in my life.