First published 2011
An Italian matriarch's final curse reaches across the continent to torment her grandsons. The Johnson family carries their heritage into California's dissolving suburban edges, where old world traditions collide with American ambitions. One grandson feels the weight of his grandmother's dying words as he pursues forbidden encounters. A brother contemplates his sibling's death as his own salvation. Meanwhile, the President himself arrives at the Los Angeles Coliseum seeking answers before launching a foreign war. These interconnected tales reveal how desire and identity blur in places where cultures meet. Each story peels back the ordinary surface to expose the hidden forces that drive the Johnson family toward their reckonings. Stansberry maps the territory where family loyalty becomes burden and the American dream turns stranger than expected.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-clash, family-drama
Setting: California, Los Angeles
Period: 21st-century
160 pages · Paperback · Lynx House Press