I have a close-to-home date to speak on “Suosso’s Lane” next week. Here’s the PR from the Crane Public Library in Quincy:
Crime By the Book: Suosso’s Lane, a Modern Sacco-Vanzetti Tale
“On Tuesday, June 14, at 7:00 p.m. novelist Robert Knox is the featured speaker in the library’s next installment of the ongoing Crime by the Book series. He will talk about his new book, Suosso’s Lane. The tale begins in the early decades of the last century in Braintree, Dedham, Plymouth, and Boston and stars the infamous Bartlomeo Vanzetti. This story is tied together with a modern tale of a history teacher living in Vanzetti’s old neighborhood who hears rumors that might change the way history is understood, by proving Vanzetti’s innocence.
Condemned to death largely for anarchist beliefs in a trial marked by fear-mongering and prejudice toward Italian immigrants, Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty and executed in 1927 despite worldwide protests by millions of workers and intellectuals.In Knox’s story, seventy years later a young history teacher moves to Suosso’s Lane in Vanzetti’s old Plymouth neighborhood and hears rumors of lost evidence that might prove his innocence. Intrigued by Vanzetti’s story and the lessons it holds for our own day, young Mill Becker risks his academic career in the search for a lost letter, joining forces with a local reporter on a search of his own to clear up a policeman’s suspicious death in the 1940s. A then-and-now novel, “Suosso’s Lane” reconstructs the cause that captivated the world’s attention and addresses the still timely issues of immigration, ethnic group prejudice, the widening gap between rich and poor, and failures in our criminal justice system.
This program is sure to engage us with a fascinating perspective on history and its modern-day repercussions.
Robert recently stopped by the QATV studio for an interview about this program: https://youtu.be/m7XdbO45sCo.