Then an Angel Came

After the loss of an infant to SIDS, Gino's daughter was beside herself with grief. In response, four generations of her close-knit Italian family converged in order to communicate with the spirit world, asking profound questions about death, the afterlife and the evolution of the soul. Gino (Rusty's Story), the family's dominant matriarch, writes with considerable skill here, tracking her clan's moods and emotions with sensitivity and grace. She explains how, when she and other family members independently experienced a frightening hallucination of a Native American infanticide, they recognized themselves in the vision, and came to believe, with the help of an angel called Janith and other spirit guides, that they were a family of souls returned to the earth to purify the karma of that tragic crime. The Long Island-based Ginos, as Italian as any Roman family, are united by religious faith, although they believe in a compassionate higher intelligence rather than in the traditional God of Roman Catholicism. Counterpoint to their wholehearted acceptance of the paranormal here is the affectionate, no-nonsense skepticism expressed by Gino's longtime companion, Mario (identified as a novelist and Hollywood screenwriter, and closely resembling Mario Puzo), as well as by Gino's father. Ultimately, the entire clan found that sharing the intimacy of grief strengthened the fabric of familial love--a lesson beautifully illuminated by Gino's gentle and empathetic storytelling. (Dec.)