Marcello’s artfully distinctive love story flows like a sentimental ballad.
Cenotaphs is a tender love story about two very different individuals embarking on an unconventional relationship that is both terrifying and rewarding. Ben Sanna is well into his golden years, trying to find redemption from a few bad choices that he cannot fully put behind him. Known as the best listener in his small Vermont town, Ben devotes time to providing an audience for his troubled neighbors, offering sage but humble advice where he can. With a reputation like that, Ben is exactly the challenge Sam Beckett is looking for when she breezes into town in her flashy sports car and power suit. But what Sam gets is not just another man to intimidate or conquer. Several decades her senior, Ben proves to be the sounding board Sam has needed for longer than she cares to admit. Together, they fill in the crumbling pieces of each other.
It has been said that there are about a hundred different words for love in Sanskrit, but it wasn’t until I read Cenotaphs that I realized how lacking my English vocabulary really is! Marcello’s artfully distinctive love story flows like a sentimental ballad, led by two separate lead singers pulling the song in seemingly discordant directions, but with a supremely harmonious chorus. Readers will easily identify with the hardened protagonist, Sam, for her inner strength and vulnerability. Ben surely sets a new standard for an ‘old man’ with his boundless insights as he reflects on how to live a meaningful life, how to find the bright side to dark situations, and how to achieve self-forgiveness. Whether you read it for the poignant story, get drawn in by the witty aphorisms, or love it for its exquisite rhythm, Cenotaphs by Rich Marcello is one of those rare stories that you’ll want to pick up time and again.
Congratulations to
Cenotaphs by Rich Marcello
winner of the
2021 Indies Today Best Literary Book Award
