Is destiny controllable or predestined by a higher power? Why has its force left so many questions unsolved? In Aimee V. Johnson's new novel, "Destiny Kills an Angel" (now available through AuthorHouse), Don Mario Clemente has chosen to live and die within his own ruthless world of desires and dreams.
On April 9, 1900, Mario Augustus Enrico Clemente was born in Sicily. Johnson's volatile saga covers the years 1871 to 1945 and features three generations of the reputable Clemente family. Destiny interfered when he was 10 years old because of a failed kidnapping; Mario's father, Anthony, is forced to send him away from home for the boy's own safety to St. Francis Catholic School in Messina. There he becomes an altar boy and eventually enters the priesthood. It is an inauspicious start to the life he will have to endure.
He is compelled to return home after his father's untimely death on July 14, 1922. The unexpected event forces Mario to forsake his religious background and put many unlawful duties ahead of God.
In the second decade of the 1900s rose a lion by the name of Benito Mussolini, in Rome, who came to power with his Fascist Party. He met this beautiful Sicilian gypsy, Rosa Randazza, and fell deeply in love with her only to find out she is betraying him. Later, his brother, Arnaldo, laid the groundwork for Benito and his troops to invade Sicily in the fall of 1924.
Mario and Rosa, his childhood sweetheart, reunite after being separated for many years, find they are still in love and decide to marry and flee to New York City's "Little Italy." Against Rosa's wishes, Mario becomes involved with the Mafia. When they left Sicily for America, they had their heads in the clouds and full of dreams, only to find out that some dreams do not come true.
Johnson expertly weaves an affecting, character driven tale of love and revenge set against backdrops in Rome, Paris, New York City and New Orleans.
Johnson started writing "Destiny Kills an Angel" when she was 77. This book was written on behalf of her son, Gary Wayne Johnson, aka Tony Masseria, who began the story as a movie script but passed away from heart failure before it was completed. Her only goal was to finish what her son had started. The manuscript was completed when she was 82.
