Young Nicholas Petrovich is the grandson of Tony LaStoria. From the Eden created by the family patriarch must come a new offshoot, struggling to grow, to branch out, to become fully human. Torn from his roots, will young Nick find the mills of Milltown to be his fate? He gambles on his dream to return to Boston, to pursue those books that tempt him with hopes of achievement, advancement, and adventure. On a college campus, taught by Jesuits, he learns to think for himself, and he meets a new love, the audacious Sheila Blake, a farmer’s daughter from the West of Ireland. Only in her arms will he complete his education. Only by her love will he become a man. Together Sheila and Nick must face Nixon’s America and the debacle in Vietnam. Only such a love can bring Nick full circle, to take the path of exile chosen in the beginning, three generations before, by Tony LaStoria himself.

The Education of Nicholas Petrovich is Volume 4 of Eugene Christy’s monumental saga of three generations of an American immigrant family. Watch for the final Volume 5 of The Twentieth Century Quintet coming soon this summer in 2021 from Adelaide Books.

What readers are saying about Vol 2 My Son The American:

I’ve shared Mr. Christy’s previous novel with my 87 year old Mother, who is living in isolation, and lived through the times described by the novels. She loved it and felt like it accurately captured her own life experience.

Jeff Rosen, Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop

In the second volume of the American Quintet, author Eugene Christy explores the life of Tony LaStoria. Against the backdrop of America in the early days of the 20th century through WWII, Christy sets his characters within the context of American history. The background provides a rich tapestry against which the story unfolds. It is America and a true American story with lessons for today. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Richard W. Wise, award-winning author of Redlined and The French Blue

There’s an animal exuberance in Gene Christy’s storytelling that makes you want to keep reading, from one trial and adventure to the next, all the way to the end. -

Christopher Nye, Chairman of Orion Magazine