Capernaum

Louis D. Lo Praeste's stunning debut novel spans one man's turbulent childhood in the bucolic rural hills of New Hampshire to the morning of 9/11, his decision to join the war in Afghanistan and his awkward homecoming. In Capernaum Lo Praeste examines the ravages of post traumatic stress from war and abuse with sensitivity and humor through Atticus Brunna's sardonic narration as he struggles toward redemption and comes to terms with the inevitability of death.

Through Atticus's memories the reader encounters the demons of addiction along the broken road to recovery, and discovers the futility of channeling regret into violence. Navigating a splintered landscape of family relations and fractured friendships to work out his own salvation, he finds that an act of forgiveness does not always take the shape we want or expect it to.