‘Some people say I have the gift of gab, but actually, I’m a rather private and reserved man.’
Rich DiSilvio, a man as committed to music, art, philosophy and sociology as informed by the fine arts, takes this period of history with all of the fascinating changes, discoveries, triumphs and failures and by introducing fictional characters within the stage setting of this era makes it far more credible. We see so much better through the eyes of witnesses than through the most sophisticated lenses of modern technology. And in DiSilvio's handling of the parallel or concurrent unraveling of historical events with those of the Goodwin family he provides not only keen insight but also pauses for the inclusion of the arts, so often ignored by other historical novel writers.
While some readers may pause because of the plethora of stories about WW II and the extremes of the Nazis, this reader would hastily add ‘but you haven’t thought about it the way Rich has’. His story is unique in that it relives a period of time and then brings it back in to the future like a ghost story – a very clever and successful choice for creating a fascinating new novel.
The synopsis Rich offers is seductive: ‘Jack Goodwin is a clever and witty CIA agent saddled with baggage. Haunted by a dark past for fifteen years, Jack finally reveals all to his daughter, Eleanor. As an OSS agent during the war, Jack’s traumatic past involved a series of near-death experiences, from failed sorties and secret missions, to a horrifying stint at Auschwitz, to having met and married Eleanor's mother, Veronika. But the flames of passion had died when a prying Waffen SS officer, Alois Richter, entered the fray. With an amorous eye for Jack's bride and a suspicious plea to join the OSS, Alois had sent Jack’s world into a catastrophic tailspin with tragic results. Fueled with revenge, father and daughter join forces to hunt down his long-time nemesis. But when disturbing evidence arises, Eleanor is forced to reevaluate the mission, as intrigue, murder, and suspense abound, leading to a climatic face-off that reaches terrifying and unexpected heights.’
Rich’s style is compelling, jolting in the manner in which he lays open old wounds of our making we had hoped would somehow heal without medicaments, and at the same time infuses a gentle tenderness in his depiction of `common man'. This is a magnificent epic novel, one that will be always with us - and hopefully in the classrooms of students who so desperately need to understand our true history.