The Boston Castrato

As a child in Italy in the early 20th century, Rafaele Peach is castrated by a priest who wants to preserve and exploit his beautiful voice. But the practice has fallen out of favor, and Raffi is exiled to the U.S., where he makes his way to Boston and falls in with “a circle of misfits, dreamers, and strays.” Raffi’s picaresque adventures take him from the highest echelons of society to the mobsters, schemers and charlatans who occupy the bottom rungs. In exuberant and yet precise prose, Colin Sargent conjures a sweeping tale of love, murder, and revenge. - Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train.
Antic and episodic, The Boston Castrato is as hilarious as it is compassionate, intriguing and wise, the prose finely honed, and its metaphoric richness rendering even the darkest, zaniest scenes with a haunting tenderness. Colin Sargent is a fearless and generous writer, and his blend of humor and pathos takes the reader into both the heart of this story, and into the lives of these deeply imagined and unforgettable characters who inhabit it. - Jack Driscoll, author of The World of a Few Minutes Ago
Wicked shards of humor and sophisticated, astonishing word play reminiscent of James Joyce’s Ulysses make up the heart of this incandescent novel by Colin Sargent. A rare book, one that will settle into the soul for a lifetime. Morgan Callan Rogers, author, Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea
An aria performed with brio by a virtuoso novelist. - Lewis Turco