Of Saints and Wooden Nickels

My father and a friend steal money from their families to support a trip to Italy. The purpose of his venture is to discover a shameful, family secret.

The book is my father's personal tale of his quest to discover a family secret considered to be shameful. The story is an emotional, fact-based adventure of identity, home, faith, courage and persistence. Although fact based, I have chosen to write the story as a novel in order develop dialogue and scenes for the sake of narrative coherence. My father's odyssey begins at age 16, in a dishonest manner. He and a friend steal money from their families to support their trip to Italy. During his travels, my father learns much about himself and life as he faces the complications of being a penniless boy in a foreign land after being robbed of his passport and money. The book is a time capsule of the era and an absorbing read. The coming of age adventure is appropriate for both adult and young adult genres and one that readers will not want to put down.

Harry Trumfio was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and now resides with his wife, Lorie in Arlington Heights, Illinois. They have four children, six grandchildren and one great grandchild. He is a former public school superintendent and served as the Chairman of the Department of Education at Benedictine University. Harry took his first writing course at Roosevelt University's Institute for Continued Learning in the fall of 2004 and won recognition from the Arts Unlimited Community Writing Contest for a short story entitled, "It Happened at Riverview" and a poem entitled, "Haunting," based on his observations made during Martin Luther King's "Freedom March" August 5, 1966. He currently is a study group coordinator for the Institute for Continued Learning at Roosevelt University. Harry has also served as a consultant to the Alternative Certification Program for Teachers of Mathematics and Science at Benedictine University and as a writer and in-service program developer for Teacher Today Publications, Inc.