Waggoners Gap is a spiritual place with unique natural beauty and breathtaking vistas overlooking the Cumberland Valley near Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is also a pivotal locale in the sweeping story of two disparate families fighting for survival and success in the dark decades surrounding World War II.

The Genero clan is at the heart of the story, which tracks the trials and travails of mother, father, son, and daughter whose lives are inevitably affected by a richer and more influential family, the Monarch clan, who control industry and primary employment for most of the people living in the shadow of Waggoners Gap. The generational confluence of these players takes place across a range of time in American history that includes World War I, the Great Depression and culminates in World War II when the Genero children—brother and sister—both enlist to support the war effort. During this time, the lecherous younger Monarch takes over the booming textile business and secretly begins to siphon off profits while mistreating his employees, including the Generos.

The saga winds from Waggoners Gap through area colleges to Army training bases, ships at sea, battlefields in Europe and the Pacific, and back again as truly colorful characters develop and influence each other through the decades. Through it all, in spite of deadly hardships overseas and dark dealings on the home front, Waggoners Gap draws the players together and repels them like a spinning magnet.

Waggoners Gap is a compelling read. As a former Cobra pilot, I especially enjoyed the combat flying sequences in Europe and the Pacific. —Herb Caddell, retired Deputy U.S. Marshall

Want to know what it was like to be an Airborne soldier in combat? Here is your chance. Tony Peluso does an outstanding job of putting you in the “boots on the ground” during World War II. By the time you finish reading this very detailed account of actual events, you will feel like you were there when it happened…. Airborne, all the way! —David F., former Airborne Officer

Military