Secret History of the International Working Men’s Association (1872)

This book is based on the true story of a Sicilian immigrant who flees his own country when an outraged husband, Vittorio, finds lovers Carmela and Gino together and intends to kill him. In 1900 Sicily, husbands shoot the offenders, and the townspeople turn their heads. Gino escapes to America and works in a coal mine in Pennsylvania, saves his money, travels to California and plants cherry trees. After the birth of three daughters, he finally has a son. Tragedy strikes when an unknown assailant shoots and kills his wife and child with a sawed-off shotgun. Accused of the murder, he is tried and then acquitted. In a deep depression, he rides the rails for months like a common hobo. When his daughters marry, a lonely Gino marries the friend of his youngest daughter. A few years later his wife finds Gino shot through the head. Is it suicide? Or did a wretched man finally get his satisfaction?