Thanks for visiting!  I’m happy to be joining  TLC Book Tours for the blog tour of THE ROAD TO DELANO by John DiSimone.  Thank you to the author and publisher for the review copy.

Genre:  Historical Fiction, Suspense

Published: March 10, 2020

Source: TLC Book Tours & Rare Bird Books

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“The diminutive brown man, who sat slump-shouldered in front of him, had said to him weeks ago at 40 Acres, at the beginning of his fast that he had come here to Delano of his own accord. He had come with a purpose—this was his road to Delano—to suffer for others so they could learn to fight for justice.”

I’m happy to be joining TLC Book Tours and Rare Bird Books for the blog tour of THE ROAD TO DELANO by John DiSimone. Thank you to the author and publisher for the review copy.

My Thoughts:

This was a powerful story, well written with a subtle tension that carried throughout. This is historical fiction based on Cesar Chavez and the violence that erupted when Latino and Filipino workers went on strike in 1968 in Delano, California. I was completely absorbed in the small agricultural town and the lives of Jack, Ella & Adrien. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys a serious and gritty small-town drama with an overall message of duty and justice.

Publisher Description:

Jack Duncan is a high school senior whose dream is to play baseball in college and beyond as far away from Delano as possible. He longs to escape the political turmoil surrounding the labor struggles of the striking fieldworkers that infests his small ag town. Ever since his father, a grape grower, died under suspicious circumstances ten years earlier, he’s had to be the sole emotional support of his mother, who has kept secrets from him about his father’s involvement in the ongoing labor strife.

With their property on the verge of a tax sale, Jack drives an old combine into town to sell it so he and his mother don’t become homeless. On the road, an old friend of his father’s shows up and hands him the police report indicating Jack’s father was murdered. Jack is compelled to dig deep to discover the entire truth, which throws him into the heart of the corruption endemic in the Central Valley. Everything he has dreamed of is at stake if he can’t control his impulse for revenge.

While Jack’s girlfriend, the intelligent and articulate Ella, warns him not to do anything to jeopardize their plans of moving to L.A., after graduation, Jack turns to his best friend, Adrian, a star player on the team, to help to save his mother’s land. When Jack’s efforts to rescue a stolen piece of farm equipment leave Adrian the son of a boycotting fieldworker who works closely with Cesar Chavez in a catastrophic situation, Jack must bail his friend out of his dilemma before it ruins his future prospects. Jack uses his wits, his acumen at card-playing, and his boldness to raise the money to spring his friend, who has been transformed by his jail experience.

The Road to Delano is the path Jack, Ella, and Adrian must take to find their strength, their duty, their destiny.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble| Rare Bird Books | Bookshop | Libro FM

About The Author

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John DeSimone is a published writer, novelist, and teacher. He’s been an adjunct professor and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. His recent co-authored books include Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan (Little A Publishers), and Courage to Say No by Dr. Raana Mahmood, about her struggles against sexual exploitation as a female physician in Karachi. His published novel Leonardo’s Chair published in 2005.

In 2012, he won a prestigious Norman Mailer Fellowship to complete his most recent historical novel, Road to Delano. His novels Leonardo’s Chair and No Ordinary Man have received critical recognition.

He works with select clients to write stories of inspiration and determination and with those who have a vital message to bring to the marketplace of ideas in well-written books.

Find out more about John at his website, and connect with him on Instagram.

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