Fairfield, CT -- The beginning of the 2016 baseball season brings with it the release of Fairfield author Paul Ferrante’s first adult novel. The Rovers: A Tale of Fenway (Melange Books) features dual plot lines set in the year 1927. The first takes place in Dublin, Ireland, and involves an audacious plot to steal a sacred Irish relic; the second tells the story of an immigrant teen who travels to America for an improbable tryout as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. In this part such baseball immortals as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Ted Williams make an appearance. There are many twists as the storylines cross in the saga of the Clancy boys of Cashel.
The Rovers was inspired both by Ferrante’s fascination with Irish culture — he has visited the Emerald Isle on numerous occasions, and was educated in part by the Christian Brothers at Iona College in New York — and his association with Bob Cremins, a fellow resident of Ferrante’s former hometown of Pelham, New York, who befriended the author in the 1990s and shared many remembrances of his experiences as a pitcher for the woeful ’27 Bosox. Ferrante thus decided to make “Lefty” a major character in the book as an homage.
“Anyone who has an interest in Ireland’s culture and its people will enjoy the story,” he promises. “And if you love baseball, especially if you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, I think you’ll appreciate the old-time feel of the book.”
Ferrante, who has published four volumes in the paranormal Young Adult T.J. Jackson Mysteries series (Fire & Ice Books) is a baseball historian who has been a columnist for Sports Collectors Digest since 1993 on the subject of ballpark history. His writings have led to numerous radio and television appearances regarding baseball history, and he has spoken at the National Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown with regard to his T.J. Jackson book Roberto’s Return, in which the Hall of Famer’s ghost comes back to haunt the museum.
The Rovers: A Tale of Fenway, is available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. Mr. Ferrante encourages readers to visit his website www.paulferranteauthor.com for updates on personal appearances for The Rovers and the T.J. Jackson Mysteries, as well as information about all his writings.