A Fine Place: A Novel - Hardcover

When Tony Santangelo's friends pressure him into participating in what had been intended as a beating, one young man dies and another's life is changed forever. Tony, who had few prospects before he was sent to prison for the crime, later returns to his stagnant and repressive neighborhood: the Italian American enclave of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a "fine place" for a racially motivated crime. He also returns to a father who can't hold a job and elderly relatives who have been bickering for decades. His great aunt and grandmother smother him with kindness and guilt, while his bitter, sarcastic grandfather is always "in a mood." Chapters alternate between past and present, most narrated by Tony's grandmother, though his grandfather, aunt, father, and Tony himself also speak. With his clannish, close-minded neighborhood still wallowing in fear, anger, and racism ten years after the crime, Tony must confront his demons by himself. This powerful, unflinching first novel, based on real events, is recommended for all public and academic libraries. Jim Dwyer, California State Univ., Chico
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"A Fine Place is a story that has so very much to tell us about ourselves and our country." -- Robert Coles

"Deft and true in every detail, A Fine Place reminds us that the territory of the heart is infinite." -- Jayne Anne Phillips

"Nicholas Montemarano's A Fine Place is the most remarkable and compelling first novels I have read in years." -- Jay Neugeboren