The Easter Lamb

by Mark Conte

On the morning of Good Friday Papa Vianello and his three sons go to the Italian market to buy a live lamb. It is a tradition for the Vianello family to buy a live lamb on Good /Friday, fatten it up all day Friday and Saturday, they it is slaughtered by Papa Vianello, skinned and prepared for their Easter. The children of Juniper street are amazed at having a live lamb on their very street in the Vianello basement. The favored friends are allowed to come into the cellar and pet the lamb and feed it lettuce, but the majority of the children are stationed at the basement’s two windows looking at the wonder of a live animal.. The boys name her Delilah and all afternoon there are cries of Delilah
That night, Carlo, the youngest son at five years old begs his brothers to save the lamb from being their Easter dinner and together with Skipper, the little Irish girl next door, Dante, Johnny and Skipper divise a plan to try to save Delilah. The plan is almost perfect.

ebook

First published April 1, 2015

About the author

Mark Randolph Conte has published fiction, poetry, articles, interviews and Guest Columns in 67 publications. He has eight books, Walking on Water, poetry, 1986, Delilah and Other Stories, 2001, The Judas Scroll, poetry, 2004 and Five Days to Eternity, 2005. Of Flesh and Stone, 2009, The Ghost 2013, The Easter Lamb 2015, The Death of Sherlock Holmes, 2015, Kathy's Songs, poetry, 2016.. The Winds of revolution august 2017 and A Friend of the Family due December 2017 He had short stories in the anthologies Steps in Time and Love Matters. He won Honorable Mention in the PEN American award in short fiction in 1979 and first prize in poetry in the Barbwire Theater awards. He is a member of the Academy of American Poets and the Authors Guild.

Reviews

[Mark Conte]

The Easter Lamb

Five Star review Readers Favorite

"A rollicking romp through the Easter holiday with a joyful ending that will warm every heart with love and laughter."



Book release,
The Easter Lamb, Novella
98 PP $6.99 paperback

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is with our great pleasure to send you author Mark Conte’s new book The Easter Lamb, which we hope you will be able to assess for review in your publication.

It is set in nineteen-thirties Philadelphia, where an immigrant Italian family living next door to an Irish family strive to uphold their family tradition of buying a lamb before Easter, in order to fatten it to be slaughtered for Easter dinner. Kept in the family’s cellar until then, the endearing creature proves a magnet to other city children who flock to see it, and the youngest Vianello boy begs to save the life of their new “pet”, now dubbed “Delilah”. This gives rise to a convoluted plot involving the secret purchase of a substitute lamb carcass and the smuggling of the live lamb out of the house, only to be discovered .

Sensitively written and evocative of the times, we find this to be a charming book on many levels, and very funny, and hope you agree.


Sincerely,



Carly McCracken
Publisher
Crimson Cloak Publishing

[Veronica Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book: charming, entertaining and funny.