Family Trilogy

I am introducing you to the Buonofortes: A family similar to my mother's family and the millions of other families who immigrated to this great country at the beginning of the last century. The Italian immigrants took their place among the other immigrants who came before them and who were already acclimated and settled in their new country. Similar to all the new immigrants, regardless of nationality, they all shared the same passion: to make a better life for themselves, their children, and generations to come. This is a fictional/non-fictional account of the Buonforte family. A family that came from Sicily, Italy in the early 1900's to make a better life for the children and finally settle on East Clifton Avenue, New Jersey. Non fictional events are inter-weaved with fictional events and people. The Buonoforte family lived in Clifton, New Jersey, a town similar to thousands of small towns in the northeastern part of the United States. Within the story of the Buonoforte family, the sacrifices, potential rewards, and heartbreak of unconditional love are the main message: Rethink behaviors as to not repeat the same mistakes that eventually destroy families. A message that I hope millions of other families may be able to relate to, understand, and be moved by. You will see within the Buonoforte family that there are those who are emotional and affectionate, and those who may be emotional and not affectionate. Although brothers and sisters may share the same genetics, it is a puzzle why if brought up by the same parents they can be so different. It creates much confusion and potential hurt. Perhaps if that is understood, we can let go of old vendettas and hurt feelings, reconnect, and grow.

It's the Roaring Twenties, Jake and Raisa Kessel are married with two kids and a pile of growing debt. They need a change, some new pickings. They pack up for the bright lights and new opportunity in Port Huron, Michigan. They are living high on the hog; overnight, Jake finds himself standing in endless soup lines and even longer job lines. It's The Great Depression. Jake knows he has to make some 'fast money' to get his family back to Wyoming, even if it might be illegal or dangerous. Back in a Lovell, Wyoming share cropper's shack, Jake and Raisa struggle to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. Raisa isn't cut out to do the hard physical field work and soon she's down to the flesh on her bones; she gives Jake an ultimatum. It's just the push Jake needed as they move off the rented farm and into their own tar-papered home in town. Then, Japanese bombs fall on Pearl Harbor and everything changes. The government needs men to build the Heart Mountain relocation camp and Jake signs on. Months later, Jake takes a job with Marathon Oil giving him a steady pay check and a retirement plan. The tide has turned, life is good. Their only son enlists to fight in WWII in Europe and they each have brothers who are Japanese POW's. Who will come home and who won't? What does the end of their life together bring? Who will be the first to die? Life is not always, what it promises or seems and sometimes it breaks a person. When Jake is left alone after Raisa dies, he's like a boat without a rudder. What does he do to fill the void? He and longtime friend, Pastor Floyd Schweiger take an interest in saving the Pryor Mountain wild horses-but will this diversion fill his lonesome nights without Raisa? Flesh on the Bone is a touching, realistic account of a true American family, filled with ambition, promises, love and loss; it is a legacy of surviving the ups-and-downs of life. The novel twists and turns through family stories passed down and fleshed out with imagination and carefully researched historical events. Schutte lays the tension, poverty, and daily grind of the lives of her characters on the table. She has a knack for getting into their heads and hearts and taking the reader with her. This-is a family saga, a story of the personal struggles of the immigrant's children!