Jenny Jones was an orphan. There were painfully few safety nets in our society for young, orphaned females, Jenny married not a man of choice but for desperate need. When the alcoholic husband died in the bootleg war, leaving her with an infant son she was drawn into a private war- one of survival in a hostile world. Her son grown to manhood entered that world too. If there was one thing that both sought out of life, it was true love. Circumstances drew mother and son close together. The neighborhood would frown if they had openly showed their affection for each other. Long before Tom Brokaw, A.J. Ciulla knew that his generation was the greatest in the history of our republic. The three decades that encompass the duration of Dark Passions are those that molded the character of the nation. The book is by no means meant to glorify the past. The warts and beauty marks are evenly distributed. This is not A.J. Ciulla the short story writer. Dark Passions is a hard-hitting with no holds barred novel.
