Family Passions

by Edward Vasta

Three families. Three worlds. A head-to-head collision.Ian Bernard is a World War II Silent Generation type husband, Midwestern and traditional. His wife, Maia, wrestles with her empty nest and reinventing herself after their three college-age children-John, Jeff, and May-depart. Both quietly dream of a different life...perhaps without each other.Jeff and May Bernard, caught in the radical cultural reformation of the 1960s, leave their colleges to join a newly founded California commune where free love, community values, and hard work are going to usher in a new world of peace and harmony...in the midst of the Vietnam War. Their older brother, John, the keeper of the family's traditional values, is incensed with his siblings' decision-especially when he discovers May is drug-addicted and pregnant.Seiji, a Japanese businessman whose wife died in the U.S. bombardment of Nagasaki at the beginning of World War II, travels the globe to gain markets for his family business. But that's not all he's seeking....When the collision of passions results in unintended tragedies, the survivors of all three families must choose how to live...in a strangely different world.Set in the tumultuous late 1960s, Family Passions is a stunning portrayalof unleashed passions, fading religion, and cultural revolution.By the esteemed 40-year professor at The University of Notre Dame, Edward Vasta. Don't miss his other Mud Pie Mysteries, Tales from the Hidden Apple, Love and Redemption, To Carthage We Came.

Paperback

First published October 7, 2011