Writers will tell you one of the best messages they can get is from a bookstore saying they need more copies of their book because all copies have been sold. The author of the Spanish Civil War love story, Stronger than War, got such a call last week from Paul Abuzzi, manager at Jabberwocky Book Store in the Tannery Marketplace in Newburyport, MA.

“We need four more copies, and I have a check for the books we sold,” Abuzzi said.

When the author arrived with the four books, Abuzzi said three of them had already been sold to customers, including two that had been specially ordered.

The story of Stronger than War is about a romance in a small town outside of Barcelona between a handsome farm boy, training to be a baker, and a beautiful artist, who was the granddaughter of the town’s banker. The disparity of wealth and social standing in the 1930s Spain created a challenge for the young couple.

Compounding their love affair is a childhood acquaintance, the son of the town mayor and a vineyard owner. Obsessed, he wanted to have the banker’s granddaughter as his lover and uses his father’s political connections to become a corrupt Army officer and try to kill off his rival.

Stronger than War, inspired by a true story, was written by Stewart Lytle, senior reporter for The Town Common Newspaper in coastal Massachusetts.

Cutline: Paul Abuzzi at the Jabberwocky Book Store with Stronger than War

Photo by Stewart Lytle