by Alfio Giovannini
214 pages
ISBN 1-60441-129-5
Published 11/2007
In the spring of 1986, Julian and Virginia Watson, a retired couple, live on the top floor of the Excelsior, an old apartment building on the edge of downtown Des Moines. Mrs. Watson suffers from agoraphobia and has not ventured outside the Excelsior in several years. Her devoted husband and Ms. Duncan, the building's janitor, are her only contacts with the outside world. Because of Virginia's fragile mental status, Julian only absents himself to run some errands or to take a daily walk in a nearby park. However, Julian's monotonous routine is suddenly altered by his chance encounter with an autograph-seeking lady who mistakes him for Clyde Ballantine, a reclusive Des Moines-born actor he has never heard about. In the following days, Julian's life is marred by a series of odd and frightening events that only an old article in The Des Moines Register could help explain. Or maybe not...
About the Author
ALFIO GIOVANNINI was born in a small town in the Italian Alps on July 15, 1951. He is a Drake University alumnus and has lived in Des Moines since 1976. He works in cancer epidemiology research for the State Health Registry of Iowa.
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Latest News
The author and novel are featured in this 2-4-08 Des Moines Register article.
TRENTINO
The author and the novel are also featured in this 3-22-08 TRENTINO article.
The author and the novel are also featured in this June 2008 L'Adige article.
The Murillo building, which inspired the author and is called Excelsior in the novel, is featured in an episode of "Monster Moves" filmed in February and March 2008 in Des Moines, Iowa, by Windfall Films of London, England.