"Atonement: Deliver Us From Honor, Book II" is the continuation of an extraordinary story of survival, It is about a sixteen-year-old girl who is brutally beaten, raped, and left for dead in her family's lemon orchard just outside her small village near Palermo in 1911 Sicily. I chose the title "Atonement" for the second book in this series because the word, "atonement" brings to mind the possibility that somehow, someway, someday, a transgressor finds a way to make right a wrong that have been committed. Importantly, act(s) of atonement require proof. Proof based on courage. The type of courage needed to acknowledge the crime committed, accept the consequences and finally, fully reject the sin, in order to obtain forgiveness and finally, atonement. Achieving atonement requires more than simply asking forgiveness; it requires action. In the adage, actions speak louder than words, the rule is the same whether the action is for good or for evil. Something physical is required; a conscious act must occur that shows an individual's sincere intention to accomplish a goal.

This book, "Atonement", tells the story of a crime committed against a young girl, Adriana Vazanno, in 1911 Sicily. It is, first and foremost, Adriana's story but it is also the story of Turiddu Vanucci, her attacker. What makes the son of the most powerful man in Sicily, Don Vito Vanucci, commit a crime so abhorrent, so heinous, that it, rape, was virtually unheard in the small villages dotting the countryside around Palermo? in a country where women and girls are fiercely protected by every male in their family, it is literally and figuratively, near impossible for such a crime to be committed.

I chose the title, Atonement, because as the reader becomes familiar with the characters, it is my hope that, chapter after chapter, they begin to see them as human beings possessing the same human nature we all have. Adriana comes from a time when the shame of what happened to her belongs to her. If the truth of her rape was known, she would be shunned and her family scorned. Thus, it is imperative she hide all aspects of her rape from every family member - except one, whom she makes take an oath never to tell her secret. Turiddu, the son of the Don of Palermo, is overlooked by his father; coddled by his mother; and, must endure a constant comparison between himself and the Don's best friend, Adriana's own father, Giuseppe Vazanno. Turiddu, unfortunately, becomes a man even he does not recognize; but driven by jealousy, greed, and neglect - he succumbs to his inner demons.

Will there be atonement for Turiddu Vanucci? Will he find a way to free himself from all the evil acts he has committed? Or, will atonement never be realized? The answer is to read this Atonement: Deliver Us From Honor, Book II, to find out.