Part I Characters in Evelyn My Jewish Princess

The characters in Alessandro Paolo Perucci's "Evelyn My Jewish Princess" are memorable in that they are from Brooklyn. In fact Brooklyn itself is a character hence the focus on "the spirit of Brooklyn" that most of the characters seem to relish talking about.  In the beginning of this fictional memoir we meet Little Evelyn Sternheim, who is a tomboy living in World War II . She looks out for her five year old brother Benji who loves playing war. From the girl's narration we find out that Evelyn's mother is a U.S. Army Nurse that's been away overseas in Europe for approximately two years. The young girl keeps a scrapbook that has memorabilia, pictures, and letters from her mother. When a bomb goes off in the Army hospital base that Evelyn's mother is in, she feels her mother may be lost, but this doesn't happen. Her mother is too resilient to meet death in such a way. She after all drives jeeps and is the most fearless U.S. Army Nurse who is adamant that her unyielding resolve comes from "being a Brooklyn girl. That's where I get my get up and go." Intermittently we meet several characters from Brooklyn who hold the mysterious and mystical "Spirit of Brooklyn" as something of such great importance that it can never be overshadowed. For instance we are told from young Evelyn's narration that a man named Fred Pendleton in a bygone era of Brooklyn's past had once disdained being a poor boy from Brooklyn. He ran away from Brooklyn and made a small fortune abroad selling American trinkets and memorabilia. After more than 50 years of living abroad he got terribly ill, and more than anything he wanted to return to Brooklyn because he heard Brooklyn calling him by name.  Fred Pendleton is one of many fascinating characters that make Evelyn My Jewish Princess an enjoyable coming of age memoir.