Greenwich Connection
Greenwich Connection
The history of New York’s iconic Greenwich Village comes alive in novelist and filmmaker Richard Natale’s Greenwich Connection, a novella and interconnected short stories that span the second half of the twentieth century, from the waning days of WW II to September 11, 2001. The novella and stories feature a rainbow collection of eccentrics, misfits, lovers, and friends, all united in their quest for love, acceptance, and a sense of community.
The novella, In the Fall of Forty-Four, begins in war-torn Naples and quickly moves to the razzle-dazzle of post-war Manhattan. We follow Terry and Monty’s often tempestuous lives through the end of the twentieth century, during which their on-again, off-again relationship is buffeted by political and social upheaval. The subsequent short stories expand on the lives of several minor characters in the novella, who have flocked to the bohemian enclave of Greenwich Village from near and far searching for a haven in which to express their dreams and desires. Their respective fates become inextricably entwined in the enormous historical and social changes unfolding around them.
Greenwich Connection
6” x 9” 226 pages
Perfect bound paperback $20.00
eBook $5
“These brilliant, interlinking stories achieve what author Richard Natale was aiming for—a glimpse into the epic history and the individuals who made Greenwich Village a distinctive and unforgettable community in the latter half of the twentieth century. Natale’s characters are marvelous and diverse and complex, and he writes with clarity and precision of the essential moments of the lives of gay men, lesbians, outsiders, and outcasts: pleasure, sorrow, confusion, acceptance, love, defeat, and pride. This is a terrific read from a remarkable talent.”
— Jameson Currier, author of Where the Rainbow Ends and We Are Made of Stars
“Richard Natale's 'Greenwich Connection' portrays post-WWII gay life through Stonewall and beyond with a rich, layered narrative suffused with heartfelt history and a sense that not only have we been here forever, but we will always be here. Greenwich Village may provide the backdrop, but Natale populates it with nuanced, complex characters weaving in and out of each other's lives. Brilliant, detailed, and bold, this is history worth reading.”
— Jerry Wheeler, three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist whose most recent novel is Mercedes General.
From the trauma of the Second World War and the burden of post-war mid-century’s demand for a closeted life so sensitively depicted in the opening novella, through the subsequent short stories’ portrayals of LGBTQ life in the twentieth century and early twenty-first, Richard Natale’s “Greenwich Connection” brings us into the loving, terrifying, tender, frustrating, and triumphant history of Queer modern America. The interconnected personal lives of generations of LGBTQ denizens of New York’s Greenwich Village resonate with us still. Through Natale’s forceful prose, their fears are still our fears, their search for love is still our search. Natale’s beautifully drawn fictional characters bring us into an intimate experience of our very real history.
— Ann Aptaker, Lambda Literary and Goldie Award-winning author of the Cantor Gold series
excerpt from Greenwich Village (from In The Fall of Forty-Four )
A great thing, about the Village is that you can cover it on foot in a single afternoon. Best place to walk if you just want to be left alone. Or if you’re looking to meet a stranger. Lots of trees and pocket parks. And gated private streets and alleys. And diners and coffeehouses where you can hang out all day and shoot the breeze. And more kooks per square inch than anyplace else in the whole goddamned world. Artists and derelicts and square pegs. My kind of people. Interesting and funny. And sad. And smart. And annoying. And weird. And a few, downright scary. There were some posh people too. You know, the artsy-fartsy types. But also a lot of everyday Joes. And for flavor, a few goombahs. Some of the Village folks were waiting on their big break, barely scraping by, bussing tables during the day and sometimes working the streets at night. Some were crooked as sin. Some were Holy Rollers. Somehow, we all got along.
Even the noises in the Village were different. Mind you, if you don’t like noise, you got no business living in Manhattan in the first place. The Village had all kinds of noises starting with the rumble of the subway under your feet. Taxis always honking. Tires always screeching to a halt to load and unload. Blasts of music from cars racing past. Up 6th. Down 7th. Across Greenwich to 8th. Along Bleecker to Broadway. Or the noise from one of them new TVs everybody was buying. The laugh track from Uncle Miltie’s “Texaco Star Theater” or that annoying “Call for Phillip Morris” ad. But the best noises came from the people. Old ladies on the front stoop yakking in Italian or Yiddish. Moms screaming at their kids in mile a minute Spanish. Housewives singing along to Doris Day on the radio while they ironed their husband’s shirts. Guys and gals breaking up in the middle of the street and wishing each other dead, then kissing and making up and getting all sloppy. Trumpet players blasting out their windows and piano players tinkling out the same scales a hundred times in a row, for hours on end, until you want to go over there and smash their instruments to pieces. And don’t even get me started on the ones who fancied themselves opera singers or Broadway crooners, when most of them just sounded like cats in heat.