There is Always Sunshine Behind the Clouds
by Charles K. Chiodi
 
A young family’s dramatic escape from the tyranny of their Communist regime, the struggle of starting their new life halfway around the world in a country where they could not speak the language, and the hilariously funny situations they got themselves into because of it... are some of the chapters in which the author takes the reader for a nonstop emotional roller-coaster ride.
In one chapter you’ll shed tears of sympathy for the dying mother who is desperately attempting to hang on to life by facing into the sunshine – sitting in a window day after day – while struggling with her guilt feelings of being an invalid burden to her teenage son. That’s what gave this book its title.
In another chapter you’ll find humor in how a foreigner has to cope with what is an everyday routine for those who were born in and grew up in the United States.
Throughout the chapters the author of the story is amazed at the freedom and the opportunities his new country provides, until one day he realizes that there is another side to this shiny coin, and it is corroding rapidly. Or is “corrupting” a better word for what is going on in this once pristine society? Had family values changed with the advent of both parents working, or is the lack of discipline at home, in school, and in life to be blamed? Is there “too much freedom in this country?” – a statement he once made and was promptly chastised for by his contemporaries. Despite life’s hardships, he always had a positive attitude, because he remembered his mother’s last words: “Son, there is always sunshine behind those clouds!” Indeed, there is, and the clouds keep moving.
 
 

          Then   & Now

About the Author: CHARLES K. CHIODI spent 24 years in his native Hungary, 11 under Communist rule, before he escaped to the west after the unsuccessful 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He studied as, and consequently became a  journalist while serving a mandatory two years in the Hungarian Army, traveling across the communist bloc, reporting on cultural events for the Hungarian Army newspaper. He started a new life in the USA at a daily newspaper as a darkroom technician because he could not speak a single word of English. He learned quickly and was sent on assignments.
After a 10-year service at the paper he established his own advertising agency, and later a publishing company. His love for sailing produced a 32' sailing trimaran that he built from scratch, and the establishment of a magazine in 1975 for a special sailing society: multihulls. That magazine became the standard and enjoys a readership in over 102 countries. In 1998 he started a sister publication for power multihulls. At age 72 (at this writing) he is still at his desk working every day, and is actively sailing and testing new boats and equipment all over the world.
 
Hardcover, 368 pages, many color photos ...$24.95

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