Talking to Crayfish

The newspapers asked it: “Who is the criminal? The Lakeside Lolita or the son of the Mafia Don? Was Louis’s hatred of the woman who had mistreated his love for years finally boiling over? Or, as Tina’s prosecutor painted it in 1969: a gullible young boy used by an adoptee discontented and jealous enough of someone else’s family security, and weary enough of abuse to plan and plot a heinous crime over the course of years?

Sharing the loss of a parent (the death of both of Tina’s biological parents and the disappearance of Lou’s father), they are increasingly isolated by Tina’s mother’s jealousy of her talents, and the physical and emotional abuse which she subjects her. Lou’s uncle has his own plans to be a mob capo, and wants the boy to follow his example. .

As they grow older, their love, devotion, and inevitable sexual tension grow stronger, while the prejudices and bigotry of their respective families threaten to keep them apart, yet, ironically help them hide their true feelings. For years, these two disguise the truth from their families, but it all falls apart, leaving them at the mercy of bigotry, ignorance, and greed.