Brighton Publishing signs author Mary B. Patterson for “Franco and Anna Gennusa: Their Journey”

Oct. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- CHANDLER (AZ)—Brighton Publishing LLC is pleased to announce the signing of Mary B. Patterson for her poignant debut novel, “Franco and Anna Gennusa: Their Journey.” During World War II, European families were often torn apart or suffered under the burdening thumb of oppression. It would be there, in the war-torn Sicilian countryside, where the Gennusa family would dare to overcome their heavy yokes and burgeoning obstacles. “Franco and Anna Gennusa: Their Journey” is scheduled for eBook release in early-2013 and will be available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other leading retailers worldwide. The print version is currently slated for release in mid-2013 and will be available through Ingram, the world’s largest book distributor.
The two of them would meet in a fairly unremarkable way, and it would be their arranged marriage that would ultimately tear Anna from her hopes of pursuing an education and career instead of raising a family.
What Anna would soon find out, though, is that providence had a hand in guiding her and her husband Franco Gennusa together, and not even the coming Great Conflict could separate them.
As their love flourished so did their family, and soon they would be proud parents of six beautiful daughters. Then, the war came and everything changed.
At the start of World War II, Italy had risen rapidly among the axis states to become a stronghold in the Mediterranean region. Where, in the past, groves of citrus trees, olives, and grapes had once dotted the sun-drenched Sicilian countryside, now only a ravaged landscape was exposed revealing the all-consuming grim realities of war and the intense sufferings of the Sicilian people. Death was now a constant shadow over the Gennusa family and hunger was a daily reminder of their painful fate.
While elements of cruelty were being demonstrated across the country, for Franco, the most extreme cruelty was one of his own making—betraying the only woman he ever truly loved.
“Author Mary B. Patterson reveals a wartime battle often overlooked in the annals of history; the clashes fought not in the fields, but in the homes,” said Kathie McGuire, director of Brighton Publishing LLC. “Similar to Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Ms. Patterson delivers a compelling, highly-developed story destined to be heard by multitudes.”
Mary B. (Gennusa) Patterson was born in the small village of Bisacquino, on the island of Sicily. She came to America as a small child and grew up in Enfield, Connecticut. Raised in an ethnic Italian family, Mary’s parents said she was, “always old enough to get married, but never old enough to date.” Attempting to fit into society, Mary constantly found creative ways to balance her ethnic home and American backyard life. After meeting her soon-to-be husband and dating for three weeks, they were married, and together raised three terrific boys in Crofton, Maryland.