Having learned English by 1956, Sicilian Knight in New York City is an immigrant boy's coming of age memoir about his first five years in America--trying to fit in and adjust to life as a pre-teen and teen in New York during the late 1950s and early '60s. Different chapter, different story, different year. The book doesn't have to be read all at once. Each chapter can be read separately and stand alone as a short story. Each vignette is connected by humor, friendship and joy--with the music of the '50s and '60s as a backdrop. A couple of the stories also deal with kindness, loneliness and lost innocence. The last chapter, taking place in 1989, revisits 1958, two twelve-year old friends and their happy memories--which remind them of regrets, words left unsaid and their unhealed emotional wounds. Joseph Romano became a proud American citizen on December 29, 1960. Enlisting in the United States Army eleven days after graduating from the City College of New York, he was permanently retired in 1976 due to service-connected disabilities. He enjoys reading, gardening, oil painting and writing. His second book, Sicilian Knight in New York City, is a continuation of Sicilian Knight-memories of his first six years in America. Mr. Romano has a Masters in History from NYU and enjoys traveling and playing blackjack in Las Vegas. He's been married since 1976 to Erlinda, and they have one daughter-Caterina-who lives in Manhattan. He loves New York City-it has his heart and will always be his home-but the great weather in San Diego has been holding him captive since 1983.
