Portait of American Destruction
Beneath the Suburbanite Mask
"There is only so long one can repress their desires before it is too late."
Conrad Mallory performs the many facades expected of him: father, husband, neighbor, coworker, esteemed veteran. Yet something festers beneath his plastered smile composed of charming niceties and pathetic gestures. Something broken, something that hungers.
His only escape from the mediocrities of post-war suburbia are his affairs, his aching desire to enact violence on others. It's easy to justify at first; they're coworkers, they're housewives. But it's never enough to silence the echoes of his fractured and increasingly desperate mind.
His wife, Evelyn, is always dismissed as cold, awkward, and something failing to mimic a proper woman. What choice does she have but to play along with the part given at birth? As she awakens to the reality of her gold-laden trap, she must do what it takes to protect herself and their only son.
Rowland Silas Mallory's life came to an end the day the Japanese surrendered and he was forced to return home.
With the absence of children, the emptiness of his marriage only grew worse, the hands of the clock widening the chasm between him and his wife. He needed to rescue his marriage before it was too late.
On his drive to the airport to pick up his adopted son and bring him home, he prayed for the first time in months, for everything to turn out well. It took a headache of well over a year of planning, endless interviews and paperwork, and boat rides across the ocean to get to this point in the process.
He needed something to live for, and he needed his wife to wake up and become who she was meant to be. She'd promised him that certainty with the exchange of wedding vows, and more importantly, through their years of history together.
Chapter 1
About the Author
Lilia Moore is a writer with a life long interest in history. So much in fact, that she is pursuing a B.A. in history. She has an extensive collection of books about various time periods, and enjoys brushing up on her knowledge when she is not spending time with her family and three dogs. She lives in New Jersey.