Faded Genes

Searching for a Cure and Finding Home in Altamura, Italy

Patrick Girondi

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• eBook ISBN:
  9781510778290
• Year: 2023

A 47-year-old Pittsburgh insurance man and his busted nightclub-singing friend go to Italy in the hopes of finding a bone marrow donor.

Danny’s life was mundanely ordinary. He sold insurance in the small neighborhood of Fineview overlooking Pittsburgh. His weekdays ended watching all-star wrestling with his mother, and his weekends were spent in bars with PatG, a broken-down crooner and Kevin, a professional drinker and a sage.

Danny is diagnosed with a flash leukemia. There were no transplant matches and little hope. Danny's mother confesses that to avoid deportation, his biological father had taken off for Italy before he was born. Papà has no idea that he has a son.

Danny heads off for southern Italy with PatG. PatG’s Italian is worse than his voice. It all makes for a compelling situation in which cultural lines are drawn and broken. 

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Chapter 1: Hubble Rubble
• Chapter 2: It Could Never Happen to Me
• Chapter 3: Ma’s Confession
• Chapter 4: No Place But Italy
• Chapter 5: Welcome Home
• Chapter 6: Italian Wish
• Chapter 7: Blood Pulls
• Chapter 8: Turning Back
• Chapter 9: A Brother’s Courage
• Chapter 10: Mothers’ Universal Love
• Chapter 11: It’s a Family Affair
• Chapter 12: The Roots of Italian Culture
• Chapter 13: The Test
• Chapter 14: Whispered Secrets and Demands
• Chapter 15: Danny’s Wish
• Epilogue
• Faded Genes: A Screenplay
• Plates