1960: Fifth grade, in a Catholic school in a blue-collar area of Western PA. There are bewildering rules everywhere for Italian-American ten-year-old Enzo-at school, at church, at home-almost all of which involve not talking, his Achilles' heel.
It is the dawn of a new era, with the old one stubbornly clinging on. There are Latin Masses, confessionals, and penance. There is The Ed Sullivan Show and Gunsmoke. At home is a loutish big brother and a mean little grandfather. Thanks be to God, there is spaghetti. And there are nuns, of the (literally) old-school variety, armed with erasers, clickers, and rulers to keep their charges in line. Many years later, Enzo reunites with a school friend whose life has been forever altered by a childhood tragedy. This irreverent and humorous fictional work is a look back at this singular time and place, without the rose-colored lenses.
"Fun with Nuns" by A.J. Caliendo grabs you by the throat with ferocious, hilarious nostalgia, but there's a twist - at its heart is a deeply moving story about friendship and survival."
- Lila Shaara, author of
The Fortune Teller's Daughter