Carusi: The Shame of Sicily - Paperback

A fiery explosion in the sulfur mine kills his father leaving 5 year old Aspanu head of his family. His mother struggles as she is faced with signing his life away as an indentured servant, saying he will now work in the 100+ degree mines to pay off their debt. When the townspeople see no real change in their working conditions regarding their safety, and the people are fed up with unfair labor practices, they hold clandestine meetings to stage a massive riot in the square. Civil unrest boils and comes to a head. Impending, dangerous backlash looms when the mine owners find out. Aspanu's mother's 'connections' warn her to not be in the square when the riot takes place, and she in turn tells her son, but he doesn't listen. Screams, dark clouds of explosives, thunderous noise, and dead bodies line the streets. One of the bodies is someone who Aspanu loved dearly. Emmigrating to America, he tries to forget his heart-breaking past and make a new life for himself. He learns a lot about the values we all hold dear, and where the church, the mafia, and freinds and family fit in to that picture.