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Dante Alighieri Russo was a symbol of fortitude to his family--headstrong, honest, ethical, but at times unyielding and unsympathetic. With his death, his family learns to manifest that strength internally and in different ways: his daughter Nicoletta who once suffered from crippling anxiety realizes her psychic abilities; Dante's son Bardo, beleaguered by women who want him, suffers the fate of an unrequited love and learns what it is to be self-actualized; and his wife Florence, whose stoicism and taciturn manner drove her husband crazy, breaks her silence and recounts the bittersweet story of how she and Dante fell in love. Eleison is a poignant family saga that delves into love and faith, redemption and reconciliation, mysticism and spirituality, and how we learn to accept our lives for what they are--then ultimately let them go.
A haunting and poignant reflection on grief, spirituality, and the loving bonds that provide guidance and sustenance.
--Kirkus Reviews The End of Aphrodite, winner of the Eric Hoffer award for Fiction, explores the relationship between artist and muse, between the subjects of myths and the keepers of them. This is a beautifully rendered work narrated by a collection of characters whose faith is inspired by the beauty of art, the power of the ocean, the remnants of ancient religions, and the many mutations of love. When the unimaginable occurs and those beliefs are tested, Laurette Folk challenges us all to wonder who will be charged with remembering us? What sense of adoration, or guilt, or duty, preserves in survivors the stories that need to be saved? --Carla Panciera, author of Beloved: Stories, winner of the Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. “In her compelling first novel, Laurette Folk maps a young woman’s sexual and artistic coming of age with honesty, humor, and compassion. Folk writes wisely and convincingly about sex and longing, family and faith, loss and anxiety, creating a world which is at once eccentric, familiar, and unforgettable. “
Kim Aubrey, Grain Magazine "A Portal to Vibrancy is Massachusetts author Laurette Folk’s long-awaited coming-of-age novel. In this lyrical work set in middle-America’s 1980s, Folk’s self-searching heroine weathers the storms of culture, family, and love to achieve authenticity —and to live as an artist. We have in this deftly-written book our Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman." Rod Kessler, Off in Zimbabwe |
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“This engrossing novel of self-discovery draws readers into the confined world of Jackie's New England neighborhood, consisting of little more than what exists on her block… and in her bedroom. Despite attaining all the degrees and jobs that are expected, she finds no meaning in life and comes unhinged. But when she finally starts peeling away the layers of untruths that nearly consumed her, she uncovers a portal to joy. Peppered with powerful metaphors that endlessly delight, this book opens a portal of discovery to readers.”
Rebecca Leo, The Flaws That Bind |
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“In this extraordinary collection, Laurette Folk weaves mythical and tangible elements in poems that bless the magnificence of science, faith, history and the natural world. These are poems of great attention and possibility, pulling what
is six decibels below our audible range into the light. And once the unseen has risen, she skillfully unwraps it in a context that is grounded in our shared human experiences of loss, death, conception and love. In doing so, with masterful arrangement, she offers more than symbols—she invites the reader to join her in its creation. Folk shows us how much we are tethered to our beliefs and ghosts, but also illumined and boundless.” Megan Merchant, Gravel Ghosts “The visible carries/the invisible on its back in the Blake-ian dreamscapes of Laurette Folk’s Totem Beasts. Her anxious musings, tiny buds of hope, and wending narratives—of paternal specters, IVF turmoil, and undomesticated femininity—tear through this notable debut collection.” Jennifer Jean, The Fool “In Totem Beasts, Folk places the reader in the bed, womb, at the family dining table stained with olive oil, in the waters off Gloucester. And we are left breathless, speechless with this fine poet’s fearless language that tackles fertility, family, death, religion, love, and God. Folk takes us through a portal, illumed where loss is palpable, just barely hidden, always shifting its shape: sometimes a father, or the ancestors, or perhaps, the unborn. These are dream-like, sensual poems spoken by a woman still dripping fresh with longing and need. Laurette Folk’s poems demand that we listen to her new language/we must now learn to speak.” Jennifer Martelli, The Uncanny Valley |
