At 86, Tillie Ferro is a survivor in a kaleidoscopic memoir, with fiction filling reality's gaps. She zeroes in on her life during the early days of the Great Depression. Tillie hop scotches to where wealth and poverty collide: where pathos shrouds eccentric relatives and siblings; where abuse trumps innocence and where humor is the occasional balm. She does this by tracing the lives of her grandparents and parents as they journey from Sicily to Idol, a metaphoric anagram of a mill town in New Jersey. It is in Idol, where rainbow chasing parents finally defeat the Great Depression's odds; where one parent garners all the rights to a best-selling author's works; where honesty and education are paramount; where Tillie reveals her weaknesses, but celebrates her co-workers and her students. She makes discoveries while visiting Sicily. She recognizes her debts to her students. There are celebrities and politicians whom Tillie encounters during her college and cub reporting days during World War II. All this pivots around her one and only romance, its uniqueness highlighted by a midnight serenade. Each chapter has its own story, yet unites its perspectives of time, place and its people, illuminating the pangs of displacement. "Ferro" is the Italian for "iron." That, and love and humor, overcome snags of indifference, humiliation and poverty, providing the strength needed to cope with death.
About the Author: A Leo, born August 22, 1925, Isadora Yolanda Como Castello has been foraging this magical world of thickets, ensnared with traps and oases flourishing with refuges. Hardships endured were compensated by the three degrees earned at Fairleigh Dickinson University. My cub reporting days honed my nascent writing skills. I am still a welcomed contributor to that venue. Years in advertising polished my rough edges. My thirty year teaching career was enriched by wonderful Elementary and High School students, with a brief foray into Community College. However, it was my sabbatical in Media that opened wide the gates. Most of all is the enduring love fostered by my former Latin One classmate and our wonderfully gifted daughter who have provided me with a muted rococo haven to nurture my incipient creative spirits.