Coinage of Commitment
by R. Costelloe
Book Synopsis
Wayne and Nancy grow up on opposite sides of the country, each certain they must have love better than what others will settle for. Something stronger, something richer, something worth searching for. During the turbulent nineteen-sixties, they meet while he is attending blue-collar Drexel, and she is at neighboring, Ivy League Penn. Although irresistibly drawn to each other, they must overcome obstacles posed by the class and social differences that separate them, as well as opposition from both families, and later, a twist of fate that will be the cruelest test of all. Can they reach the emotional heights they seek? Can they overcome time's downward pulling inertia? Coinage of Commitment is dedicated to all who ever wondered about the altitude love might soar to.
PRAISE FOR "COINAGE OF COMMITMENT":
"Rob Costelloe has created a very thought provoking book that plays on many levels....The standard of the writing is of the highest quality. He states in his biography that he has been writing since he was 8 years old, and that does not surprise me, he is a skilled and splendid wordsmith....The ending of the story comes with a very strange twist in the tale, and one that will surprise the reader." -Simon Barrett, Reviewer, Bloggernews.net
Quick Facts
Release Date: Jan 6, 2013.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Formats: Kindle, Smashwords, Epub, PDF
1. Why do a story about love between classes?
What makes your story different than others?
Wayne and Nancy grow up on opposite sides of the country.
And they are different in so many ways. Class is just one of the differences.
She comes from a wealthy family that had three girls. Wayne is the oldest of
seven in a blue-collar family that’s rising to middle class. They also have
different political and religious beliefs. And on top of that, he goes to
blue-collar Drexel, and she attends Ivy
League Penn.
2. How big a role do the 60s play in the story?
Much of the conflict in the story pivots around tension
between the protagonists and their parents, and that is so typical of the 60s
experience for the boomers. It’s worth emphasizing that the boomers rejected
their parents tastes to an unprecedented degree. Let me cite one, underreported
example. My grade school class was large: seventy kids in one classroom. Not
one of us could stand the music of our parents. None of us could abide
listening to Tommy Dorsey’s band or the Andrews Sisters. Rock was born because
of this ionization, one without parallel in our history.
So how does this affect the story? In Coinage of Commitment, Wayne and Nancy will eventually overcome
enough obstacles that they consummate their relationship and he moves into her
apartment. Well, let me tell you! That may be common today, but in 1968, among
blue-collar Catholic families, it was absolutely unacceptable and likely to be
resisted with actions as well as words. This choice by Wayne—living in
unmarried sin, and being supported by a girl he wants his family to accept—will
reduce him in his father’s eyes to the status of gigolo, about as insulting a
term as you could hurl at someone of Wayne’s background.
3. Are there other stories related to this one, will there ever be?
Both my books are
contemporary love stories that explore the height love can reach. These are
characters certain they must have love richer than what others will settle for.
Something better, something higher, something worth holding out for. And
something that will last through time. These aspirations invariably give plot
directions a unique twist.
My newest book will feature a teenage star of independent
films who goes incognito in a small Pennsylvania town after suffering a nervous
breakdown on the set of her latest movie. While there, posing as a high school
senior (she actually already has a GED), she will get involved in romantic currents
of some intricacy—given her secret identity and the career she hopes to return
to. The story will carry beyond its original setting to something (hopefully)
of even more complex proportions. I don’t have a schedule for completion, but
the project is proceeding well.
4. Why Ivy league schools? Is money the main obstacle in the story?
Ivy
League schools are expensive, prestigious, and highly rated (Penn is typically
rated #5 in the nation). It’s natural for Ivy Leaguers to feel a certain
superiority about their education. More so in the 1960s than now. In
Philadelphia’s University City area you have an unusual situation where Ivy
League Penn, adjoins Blue Collar Drexel, a coop university that in the 60s
mainly produced engineering, science and business majors who lived in the
Delaware Valley and commuted to campus. So having Nancy attending Penn and
Wayne Drexel provides yet another difference that our protagonists must
overcome. When one of Nancy’s sorority sisters learns that she is seriously
dating a Drexel undergrad, she is shocked and speechless.
The
main obstacle, challenge if you will, for our lovers in Coinage of Commitment is their difference in values. When Wayne and
Nancy overcome the obstacles holding back their intimacy, Wayne proposes marriage.
For him, marriage is the ultimate answer when you’ve found the only girl you
will ever love again. But Nancy is afraid that marriage will smother their
love’s vitality, so she insists they live together until graduation. This
decision causes no conflict and seems a small thing in the story. But it’s
consequences will play out big time as the plot hurtles toward the story’s
surprise ending.
5. What would you like my readers to know?
Coinage of
Commitment is a different kind of love story. In terms of change of pace
reading opportunities, it is unlike any other that’s been offered. It’s as much
about the nature of romantic love and the levels it’s capable reaching—the
sacrifices it’s capable of making—as the story of two lovers. Actually, I
should say three lovers. Yes, I think I can mention, without getting into
spoiler territory, that the book features an unusual triangle, one that
dominates the novel’s second half. And it is the love triangle that sets the
stage for the book’s surprise ending. If you do decide to read this book, I
hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed bringing it to you.
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The Author
Rob Costelloe wrote fiction as a youngster, and completed his first novel a few years after college. But then the demands of family and career intervened, and his writing was mostly business or technical. But then in 2005, he read an Anita Shreve novel whose ending was so abruptly despairing that he felt outrage on behalf of so many abused readers. The result was two books, Coinage of Commitment, which became a National Indie Excellence Book Award finalist, and Pocket Piece Cameo, both published by Saga Books in the next three years.
Again he went off into nonfiction pursuits, but in 2012, he elected to rewrite both titles for the simple reason that he could make them better stories for his readers. Both titles have been published digitally, and are available from Amazon and other outlets.
Thanks for having Robert today! The post looks great!
ReplyDeleteI think it is a highly underrated time period, glad to see you are setting a story then
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