Grouping Information

Book Cover Information

Hoopla Extract Information

stdClass Object
(
    [year] => 2019
    [artist] => Avenol Franco
    [fiction] => 
    [coverImageUrl] => https://cover.hoopladigital.com/vsa_9781543970852_270.jpeg
    [titleId] => 12475142
    [isbn] => 9781543970852
    [abridged] => 
    [language] => ENGLISH
    [profanity] => 
    [title] => Cursed
    [demo] => 
    [segments] => Array
        (
        )

    [pages] => 363
    [children] => 
    [artists] => Array
        (
            [0] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [name] => Avenol Franco
                    [artistFormal] => Franco, Avenol
                    [relationship] => AUTHOR
                )

        )

    [genres] => Array
        (
            [0] => Interpersonal Relations
            [1] => Psychology
        )

    [price] => 0.34
    [id] => 12475142
    [edited] => 
    [kind] => EBOOK
    [active] => 1
    [upc] => 
    [synopsis] => I'm writing about Alejandro Faust's life-struggle, his exile, his wife, his lover, romantic escapades, his business successes, the jealousy of a partner, the effects of a diabolic curse, his struggle to survive and eventual redemption.

The story begins with a curse, a beautiful woman and Alejandro's first encounter with the intrigues and complexities of European financial circles. It is a new mix of things in his life.... the glamour associated with "haute couture," the allure of the great capitals of the world and the decadence of the "fast lane" crowded with beautiful people; "la dolce vita" all over again.

Although this mélange of people, money, love affairs, connections and Alejandro himself, are absorbing and riveting by themselves, the driving force behind the story is the effect of chance on our lives. How we intend to do one thing with our lives and end up doing something very different altogether. Even if from the very beginning Alejandro's business grows by leaps and bounds, his life is marred by Andre, his gay business partner's envy and intrigues. Their final breakup is followed by an elaborate type of curse intended to ruin him financially, to ravage his family with disease, as well as a deluge of unimaginable personal setbacks.

His personal life isn't much different. Home is not the nirvana he once enjoyed and now anxiously seeks. There is friction with his wife. Their financial situation, once affluent, is now in dire straits; recriminations abound. Maxine is also jealous; his long absences, her feelings of desertion, her resentment of Alex's endearing, cozy relationship with Julie - his lover - their friend Burt's wife. Add to all that the chronic ailments that come to afflict his live-in aging parents and his once splendid life has become another "canto" of Dante's Inferno.

Alejandro is eventually ruined although never broken. He loses all his legal maneuvers - and any hope of recovery - ill served by the mercenary ambitions of his gluttonous lawyers. Nevertheless, if it is true his life has become a never-ending struggle, he travels constantly and is exposed to beautiful people, enjoying on many occasions, a brief interlude with interesting and, as he insists, cerebral women.

After all, Alex's unique solace are his early morning walks to the lighthouse at the end of the Key Biscayne beach, occasionally in the company of a white haired - biblical looking figure - known to him only as Paul. Long walks dreaming of his comeback, ruminating about life, his existentialist philosophy and the absurdity of it all.

The story develops across the Atlantic and in several other beautiful locations.... New York, Paris, Portugal, Barcelona, Lake Como, Key Biscayne and the Adirondack Mountains. There is lots of tension, intrigue, romance and a bit of the inevitable grief. Was his ruin the result of Andre's curse or Alex's whims and business decisions? Something for the reader to decide. No matter what, at the very end, the reader will walk away happy to have met Alejandro, having shared his world and adventures, as well as his "joie de vivre."
    [url] => https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12475142
    [pa] => 
    [publisher] => BookBaby
    [purchaseModel] => INSTANT
)