The Significance of my Trilogy and why it Matters
by Carmela Cattuti
When I started writing my first novel, Between the Cracks, it was narrowly focused on my great aunt's experience of the 1908 earthquake in Messina and subsequent immigration to America, The Ascent was a continuation of that story. The final novel in the trilogy, The Benevolence of New Ideas, deals with the protagonist's, Angela, influence on the third generation of Americans. I learned many lessons from my great aunt, but I think the most important was perseverance and the realization that we are more than our physical bodies. She emphasized the world shielded from out physical eyes was just as valid as life on earth. Death seemed to be a constant companion throughout her life, parent, sister-in-law, nephew, but she was certain that people did not die, but moved into the unseen world where those who would listen could communicate with them. So, the trilogy develops and explores the unseen universe and integrates the seen and unseen.
As we follow Marie's, her great niece, relationship with Angela we see how her psyche was formed and her view of the unseen world. In the first novel, we see that Angela has a heightened intuition, developed by her formative years in Sicily, an environment constrictive and sometimes abusive to women and girls. but steeped in ancient ritual. As the years progress we see Angela share her experiences with the metaphysical world with Marie in every day life. The unseen world becomes part of Marie's DNA and how she interacts with the third dimension. Angela's survival was dominated and supported by her unseen friends.
The reader experiences the turbulence of the 1960s through Angela's and Marie's perspective. The family experiences the tension of the Vietnam War first hand when Marie's brother, Robert, becomes a conscientious objector and flees to Canada. Marie observed Angela's friends and how they admired and respected her. Angela's connections went beyond the Italian American community into the American fabric of life and encouraged Marie to see beyond her own experience. All three novels are a road map to the development of a section of American culture that matured from Italian immigration, specifically Angela Lanza and her sensibilities.
The Benevolence of new Ideas, explores Angela's other worldly connections and how she used them to in her decision making and everyday life. She set an example for everyone who would listen regardless of the teaching of the church and society's beliefs. The politics of war permeate the second and third novel and we see a fresh view of the American political situation through Angela's eyes and then through the next generation including the deluge of new ideas in the 1960s and 1970s that change the world forever.
Most of all we experience the development of Angela's intuitive powers and how she skillfully passed them onto Marie. Angela's life spanned the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the reader experiences how she integrated old ideas with the new. It is significant how Angela draws from the past and creates something new.
The Benevolence of New Ideas is set for an October 2021 release. Thanks you to all my readers and please get in touch if you have any questions. To purchase my books click here.
Bio
Carmela Cattuti started her writing career as a writer for the Somerville News in Boston, MA. She is a writer, painter, and yoga instructor in Boston. After she finished her graduate work in English Literature at Boston College, she began to write creatively and taught a journal writing class at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. As fate would have it, she felt compelled to write her great-aunt’s story. Between the Cracks and The Ascent have gone through many incarnations and will become a trilogy. The Ascent is the second in the series. The third novel, The Benevolence of New Ideas, will be published this October, 2021. To connect with Carmela email her at cattutic@gmail.com or visit her web site at www.ccattuticreative.com.
