The environment of immigrant ships traveling to Ellis Island in the early 1900s is expertly captured in the opening of Behind the Shadows. Anna and Vincent have given up on their lives in Italy to come to America and pursue the American dream like so many other Europeans. During the voyage, Anna gives birth to a son, Raymond, and while giving birth to a daughter years later, she dies in childbirth, immediately affecting readers with intense emotion only a few pages in.
Raymond develops a knack for chess and proves his skill over and over again on the streets on New York City. As he grows, his intelligence becomes obvious to those close to him, and he is accepted into a high school that will challenge him academically. A close friend, Max, dies and leaves Raymond enough money to put himself through college at Harvard, along with his close friend, Guy. Thus begins the saga of two men and the people they will touch throughout the rest of their lives.
Raymond’s success as a lawyer trickles down to his family, namely his sister, whom he declares he will put through college. That is until a horrible tragedy forces Catherine into a convent, her spirit shattered forever. Raymond vows to seek vengeance for her suffering. Meanwhile, to satisfy a business deal, Adele agrees to marry Raymond in order to save her father’s business. Her affair with a family friend produces a child, Spencer, who goes on to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Two family secrets threaten to tear the family apart and expose the truth. Susan C. Finelli has created a puzzle for readers to put together in Behind the Shadows. Her masterful control over the revelations in the novel is the foundation for such depth in plot and character. Readers will be torn between pity and hatred for Spencer and his choices.
A thrilling, suspenseful ending wraps up what proves to be a page-turning novel filled with lies, passion, and the desire to forego duty and live freely. But many of the characters in Behind the Shadows hold on to their obligations and choose fortune over love. Susan C. Finelli has taken readers on a journey through generations of a family, members of which have created a life for themselves that no one ever could have envisioned on that ship that pulled into Ellis Island. Perhaps the American dream does come with a price.
