Tuscan Son by Robert Berne
“The gift seems promising, but how do we know what we do not know?”
“We will do our best, but I am positive we will not know everything.”
Of that later point, our narrator, Bill — a university administrator in way over his head in Robert Berne’s intriguing Tuscan Son (Moonshine Cove Publishing) — was most certainly right.
You know how authors typically introduce a variety of settings and characters and jump around from one to the next? And as a reader, you look forward to some and not so much to the others? Tuscan Son rhythmically shifts from two radically different settings and sets of characters, and you know what — I was hooked on both.
CHARACTERS AT THE MERCY OF UNKNOWN FORCES
The administrators at Olmsted, a prestigious Eastern university, try to decide whether to accept a massive financial gift from a recently diseased alumnus of great wealth who is offering them Follamento, the small town he founded in Italy that bears his name. This would provide a perfect jumpstart to the school’s desperately needed global studies initiative — but the offer is not without conditions and twists.
One such twist, for which we find out the result but not the reason right from the outset, is that Bill, in Panama to finalize some of the deal’s documents after numerous trips to Italy, is whisked from his hotel room to a local prison, the reasons for which he has no idea. The book does a marvelous job of capturing the fear, uncertainty and confusion of Bill’s incarceration, which goes on longer than he could have imagined, and the trickles of false hope provided by a parade of officials, attorneys and even the crime family of his cellmate Ernesto.
Meanwhile, what school administrator wouldn’t wonder what the hitch is when a sudden gift of this magnitude is seemingly bestowed on them to coincide with their need for an international academic program? The cast of school administrators from the president to board chair to head of academics offers great intrigue — their personalities, their stance regarding the offer, their interrelationships and their skeletons in the closet.
HIGH STAKES AND INTRIGUING MORAL CONFLICTS
Berne does a fine job of getting us inside the head of Bill — whether he is trying to survive another day of his mysterious imprisonment or working the politics of the university system to make an informed decision and perform proper due diligence, either by traditional evaluation or his own detective instincts.
And then, of course, there is the Tuscan son — Angelo, who has always run Follamento for his father. How will an impending transfer of authority to the university affect his position? And will he stand by quietly? And what else is at stake should an outside group suddenly involve itself in the inner workings of his town?
WELL-WOVEN PLOT FULL OF TWISTS
Tuscan Son is a well-written, fast-moving story combining two worlds with seemingly no connection. Berne has given us a tight plot with strong storylines and plenty of twists, particularly as our narrator continues to peel away the onion to get at the truth.
Bill tells us early, and we should have paid close attention: “Faculty members are by their nature an odd lot … We can be irreverent, opinionated, passionate and quirky. The best among us love to teach, learn and discover. As quirky as Olmsted seems now, it is normal compared to being imprisoned in a Panamanian jail.”
About Robert Berne:
Robert Berne was a professor, dean and vice president at NYU for 41 years until his retirement in 2017. He served as both senior vice president for health and executive vice president for health over the last 15 years of his career. Robert was born in Brooklyn, NY, raised in New Rochelle, NY, and received his BS, MBA and Ph.D. from Cornell University. He has been married to his wife, Shelley, for 50 years and has two married children and four grandchildren. A regular visitor to Italy, Robert spends time in central Tuscany, near where Tuscan Son takes place. He has published numerous academic books and articles, many of which focus on equity in the financing of public schools, and Tuscan Son is his first work of fiction. He is enjoys cycling and is a frequent and ever-trying-to-improve golfer. He lives in Manhattan.
