LEIGH ROSE

In 1787, Elizabeth Willing Powel confronted Benjamin Franklin about his meeting during the Constitutional Convention, in front of Independence Hall. “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin famously replied: “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” Meaning the United States would require constant civic engagement from its citizens to survive.

Leigh Rose is the American Fiction Author of the ©”Legends on the Rise Novel Series” for which she received the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award in Literature (2023).

Leigh’s genre is multi-dimensional, with distinctive characters, tropes, and literary conventions that define historic and contemporary themes of family, self-discovery, and legendary myths.

An independent (“indie”) author who self-publishes fiction, Leigh retains full control over the creative process, publishing rights, and marketing enterprise of her work. She is the creative director and designer of each book cover, formatting and editing high-quality books. In 1997, Leigh was issued a legal name change to her signature art work, Leigh Rose, by the Massachusetts Court, docket number 1503848.

LEIGH’S WRITING STUDIO

Leigh designs her story narratives as if the blank page is a canvas, having been a professional visual artist for most of her life. Leigh also designs her own book covers, papier collé, a French technique where by paper is cut and applied as a collage.

Scholastic Background

A prolific author, visual artist, educator, and scholar, Leigh’s talent and knowledge of culture extends to the themes in her novels. At an early age, Leigh developed a talent for poetry, the visual arts and feature-length writing in adulthood, winning literature, visual art, and poetry awards. Leigh has held elected posts at universities that include, Senator, Student Government (Art Department), President of the Student Art League, Publications Committee and Child Care Committee, along with receiving scholastic scholarships and museum internships.

HIGHER EDUCATION

M.A. University of North Carolina. Creative Writing. 2010. (3.85 GPA, Magna Cum Laude)

B.P.M. (Bachelor of Public Management). Florida Atlantic University. Arts Administration, Business Management, and Public Policy. 2003.

B.F.A. (Fine Art) University of North Florida. Painting. 2001.

HONORS

• 2023. Massachusetts Cultural Arts Award in Literature: Legends on the Rise Novel Series.
• Editor’s Choice Award (2005) for outstanding achievement in Poetry: International Society of Poets. Poetry.com, International Library of Poetry for Who’s In Command : Eternal Portraits, Watermark Press.
• Poet of the Year (2005-2006).  Poet of Merit. Rose, L. (1999) Adrift On the Breeze. In Loves Anger. The National Library of Poetry, Watermark Press, Maryland. Also on cassette. IBSN 1-57553-729-x
• United Way of Broward County Success by 6® Initiative. Channel 10. Bucks For Books. By Mel Taylor. Miami Florida. 6AM. October 9, 2002. United Way of Broward County’s Success by 6 initiatives.
• Editor’s Choice Award (1998): Outstanding achievement in Poetry: Poetry.com and International Library of Poetry: In Love’s Anger, published in Adrift on the Breeze.
• Rose, L. International Children’s Peace Poster Exhibit.  Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Public Library.  Sponsored by Artist’s For Survival.
• Publications Committee. Columbus State University.
• President of the Student Art League. Columbus State University.
• Senator, Student Government. Columbus State University.
• Good Day Show. Columbus. Georgia. 1983. TAP Award, sponsored by the Soroptimist Club of Columbus, Georgia: Personal interview after receiving the TAP Award from Soroptimist International of Americas: Women in management and profession working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. https://www.soroptimist.org/our-work/live-your-dream-awards/index.html

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SNAP SHOT of three books Leigh is anxious to work on and complete. RELEASE DATE will be posted on Leigh’s website. STAY TUNED!

Thank you!

©Double Orphan is a fiction novel inspired by real events. Genre: Drama, Crime.

Double Orphan is about the journalist, Angie Olivetti, a native of North Beach, San Francisco, a small, historic neighborhood with a divided history, having come from the 1848 California Gold Rush.

In 1990, and when Angie is eight, she witnesses her parent’s are murdered while the family is vacationing in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. Before his death, Angie’s father, Luke Olivetti, had won the Pulitzer Prize for his article on the transnational crime syndicate, Sonora cartel.

The novel opens in 2013, and after Angie graduates from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is now senior editor for the San Francisco Headline’s (SFH) U.S. & World Report division when she receives a call from Arturo Lopez, a Mexican miner claiming he witnessed the cartel smuggling natural gas and crude oil over the U.S. border for a Texas refinery. A federal offence, Arturo is seeking asylum for his family of four, for witness testimony.

Angie jumps on the whistleblowers claim and takes the story. With a team of SFH journalists, Ice Shadow Wolves, and Federales, the team goes undercover and investigates the mining sting at Burgos Basin, in northeastern Mexico, and to rescue the Lopez family hiding out from cartel death threats in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains.

Everything seems to go as planned until Angie’s Uncle Johnny shows up and confronts the cartel that murdered his twin brother and his sister-in-law. During the incident, Angie discovers Uncle Johnny’s harrowing secret about their deaths…

©Murder at Sweet Life Inn is a fictionalized comedic-noir novel set in 2015, with flashbacks.

No one imagined that someone would imitate a distress call of a wood warbler, when a heinous murder is committed at Sweet Life Inn; a fourth generation agriturismo—bed and breakfast—in Campobasso, Italy, especially when the city prepares for the “100th Anniversary of the Summer Solstice Wood Warbler Festival,” and the city’s annual extravaganza, “Festival of Mysteries.” Superstitious by nature, Campobassani fear the timing is a bad omen.

The “Festival of Mysteries” is a theatrical procession performed by local residents dressed as angels, saints, and devils while they narrate stories from the bible. Most disturbing of all is when the devil touts, “Uomini e donne, ragazzi e ragazze venite con me—Men and boys, women and girls, come with me. If villagers resist the devil’s taunting, they are granted eternal life. If not, they are doomed to hell!

When Polizia di Stato—National Police and Carabinieri—Military Police show up at the scene, road blocks out of Campobasso, and a cordon around Sweet Life Inn restrict movement until the city’s ispettore—inspector/detective and Pubblico Ministero—Public Prosecutor, arrives on the scene to investigate. forensics reveal information about the murdered couple and the search for their murderer continues.

Luna Forni, the owner of the inn, contacts her cousin for help. Eanna Tasso lives in Princeton, New Jersey. Eanna thinks the Campobasso police have jumped to conclusions, when they suspect Luna may be involved in the murder. A theory because guests claim they heard suspicious, distress calls from wood warblers on the night of the murder. And everyone in Campobasso knows Luna Forni is a master warbler; a skilled songster that can imitate bird calls.

As the investigation into who murdered the couple goes cold, Chief Alessandro Ricci requests all city residents and visitors take part in a “tilling contest” that can imitate the wood warbler. When they come up empty, detectives request forensic DNA profile analysis for potential suspects. Unable to make a match with Italy’s Sistema di Indagine—Italy’s Investigation System, investigators are drawn to use Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy and Familial DNA profiling to eliminate Luna Forni as a suspect and to find the murderer.

Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) uses testing the DNA of a profiler, with historical records to build a family tree and trace ancestry. This coincides using Familial DNA; public genealogy databases to match sections of DNA between individuals biologically related to the suspect. With the evidence can police find and bring the suspect to justice?

Q: Are the Forni’s related to the murderer?

Q: Is the murderer a warbler; a songster or bird calls of fear made by wood warblers to alert Sweet Life Inn’s owners?

©SPECIAL AGENT: Valentine Day is a fiction spy thriller.

A brilliant software engineer designs AI-QFP, the Artificial Intelligence & Quantum Forensics Program, to find his missing wife.

Special Agent: Valentine Day is about Ned and Maggie Stiles, a married couple that live and work in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ned is an at-home-dad and brilliant software engineer, and Maggie, is a biochemist for the CIA.

When the couple gets invited to speak at “Moscow’s 2007 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence,” Maggie goes missing. Ned surmises his wife’s disappearance has everything to do with the classified project she was working on for the CIA; a project Ned knows nothing about and because of its secrecy had placed a wedge between them.

After a yearlong CIA investigation into Maggie’s disappearance, the agency tells Ned, “Maggie was kidnapped by Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives and she is now deceased.” Angry that he has to bury his wife, and the mother of their two boys, Darius and Lukas, without a body, Ned is not convinced the CIA is telling him the truth. Suspecting foul play, Ned patents, AI-QFP, an Artificial Intelligence & Quantum Forensics Program he swears will find Maggie alive and bring her home.

When the CIA find out about Ned’s patent they offer him their top position, Director of Artificial Intelligence. He accepts to gain access into the CIA’s classical database on Maggie’s investigation and to input the information into AI-QFP.

©SPECIAL AGENT: Valentine Day is a spy thriller about Ned and Maggie Stiles, a brilliant software engineer whose wife is a Special Agent with the CIA and catching a mole in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) during a joint counterintelligence operation with the United States.

When the couple arrives at Moscow’s 2007 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, it is Valentine’s Day, when Maggie goes missing. Ned surmises his wife’s disappearance has everything to do with the classified project she was working on for the CIA. A project she never told him about, and which placed a wedge between them before she goes missing.

After a yearlong CIA investigation into his wife’s disappearance, the agency tells Ned, “Maggie was kidnapped by Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives and deceased.” Upset and angry, Ned buries his wife and the mother of their two boys, Darius and Lukas, without a body, but is haunted about the CIA’s inept investigation, leading Ned to think Maggie may still be alive so he patents, AI-QFP, the Artificial Intelligence & Quantum Forensics Program he swears will find his wife.

When the CIA find out about Ned’s patent, they offer him their top position, Director of Artificial Intelligence. He joins the CIA to gain access to the CIA classical database to input into AI-QFP. With his team of expert scientists, they discover Maggie is still alive and on a mission in Moscow to intercept “The Wolf,” Dmitry Volkov, a former CIA foreign asset gone rogue who wants to steal CIA classified project to sell to terrorists: A biohybrid that mimics human behavior “in real-time.” In the wrong hands, it will lead to massive fatalities…

LEIGH’S Ancestry

Leigh grew up in a multi-cultural/multi-lingual household. Her ancestry.com DNA test results from 1700 forward includes South Central Italy (96%); Southeast Avellino & Southwest Foggia Provinces, Basilicata & South Campania Region, Cyprian (3%), Baltic States and North Africa (1%). Leigh’s ancient heritage is Greek; Cyprian and Cretan, Italian, West Asian, and Eastern European.

Leigh’s Backgroun

Leigh is the youngest of four children to Antoinette (Antenesca) Nittoli-Messano and Andrew (Andrea) Messano. Leigh was born, Sunday, September 7, 1952, at Long Island City Hospital. She was baptized Rosalie Marie Messano by Reverend James Bulger, at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Long Island City, New York, October 15, 1952. After moving to Flushing, Queens, Leigh’s family attend St. Ann Roman Catholic Church, where Leigh studied catechism, for two years each, receiving communion (age 8) and confirmation (age 12) certificates.

At that time, Leigh attended P.S. 120 elementary school, Campbell Junior High School, and then John Bowne High School, in Queens, New York. She completed her school curriculum at New York University. In her 20’s she graduated from the Bible Institute of New England, St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where she studied the historical writings of the old and new testament and contemporary writings of both nonfiction literary scholars and fictional authors of biblical theology and practices that emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, biblical literalism/inerrancy, and as C. S. Lewis stated, “mere Christianity” focusing on core doctrines over denominational dogmas. Leigh is a Christian Apologist.

Leigh went on to attend Columbus State University, in Georgia, as an undergrad in Art Education, but later transferred to the University of North Florida’s BFA program, where she graduated with a BFA in Fine Art. After which Leigh earned a second bachelors at Florida Atlantic University, Florida, where she studied ethnics, U.S. governance, economics and cultural affairs, earning a BPM; Bachelor in Public Management. Leigh went on to attend the University of North Carolina, where she studied creative writing. earning her MA.

Background

One year after Leigh’s birth, the Messano family moved from the western tip of Long Island City, to Flushing, Queens, to be closer to Leigh’s maternal grandparents, the Nittoli family. She grew up in a typical, close knit, Italian family; where schools are a short walk and in safe suburban neighborhoods outlining single standing homes, houses with multi-cultural families’ of Western and Eastern European decent.

When Leigh was seventeen years of age she takes her ideas public and sponsors a wounded, Vietnam Veteran, neighbor by organizing a peaceful Vietnam War protest. By the next year, environmental protection awareness, backpacking throughout Eastern and Western Canada. Leigh considers Canada her home away from home. Leigh continues to explore culture with residences in seven, U.S. states, and traveling abroad to Mexico, Western and Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean Islands, for which is the backbone of her novels. Themes that exemplify international settings, characters and social constructs.

Leigh credits her ethnic background and parent’s for her love of storytelling; they often reminisced about their past and ancestry that became Leigh’s passion for upholding democracy as a fine artist and creative writer. Leigh began writing short poems with illustrations for her mother during adolescence and trained in tap and ballet, performance, playing the guitar and mastered the fine art of painting and single motherhood, with one daughter, Naomi, and one granddaughter, Sienna Rose.

Leigh’s Paternal Family

Leigh’s paternal grandparents are Martino Messano, and Carmela Maria (Ventimiglia) Messano. Martino Messano (DOB. 10 November 1875 – DOD. 10 May 1955) Maria Carmela (Ventimiglia) Messano (DOB. 20 July 1877 – DOD. 21 January 1943) They were born in Sessa Cilento, a region along the Amalfi Coast, in the Province of Salerno, Italy. Leigh’s paternal great grandfather and great grandmother are Giovanni Battista Ventimiglia, and Filomena De Feo. Leigh’s paternal great-great grandparents are Andrea (Andrew) Messano, and Carmela Tanza. Both grandparents retained Italian citizenship while residents in the US.

On 16 January 1901, Martino immigrated to the U.S. on the S.S. Columbia. Maria immigrated 29 June 1907 on the steamship ocean liner, S.S. Bulgaria. Martino and Carmela met and married, 21 June 1913, in Brooklyn, NY. In the United States, Leigh’s paternal grandparetns owned and operated a Mom and Pop Italian grocery store on Staten Island, where they lived, in New York.

Leigh’s father, Andrew James Messano, (DOB. April 11, 1916 – DOD. May 12, 1991) was born in NYC to italian parents. Leigh’s mother is Antoniette Nittoli-Messano (DOB. February 17, 1918 – DOD. June 15, 1893). Andrew and Antoniette are married on July 21, 1940, Brooklyn, NY. Andrew worked as an account executive for Van Doran Street Laundry, a commercial laundry service for restaurateurs located within the five boroughs of New York City. The company was owned and operated by the Nittoli family. Andrew was a WWII Navy veteran and stationed on a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Hawaiian-Pacific. Andrew restored modern autobiles as a hobby anf Antoniette an at-home mom had a passion for fashion design.

Leigh’s Maternal Family

Leigh’s maternal grandfather, Antonio Amato Nittoli (baptized, Amato Maria Nittoli, (DOB. April 25, 1893 – DOD. April 3, 1968), immigrated to the United States, February 28, 1913, on the steam-ocean liner, S.S. Cedric, during the Italian Diaspora. https://youtu.be/hwqzplK_gG0?si=mC_q_R1N4_nc8Mhw

During WWI, Italy’s allegiance was to the Triple Entente and with the Treaty of London, the Allies promised Italy, lost Italian territories if Italy helped them win WWI. Italian citizens called the end to WWI, “A Mutilated Victory” because the Allies reneged on their promise. The reason why Italian citizens resisted joining the Allies during WWII. Italy becomes a republic on June 2, 1946, and celebrates their freedom on Festa Della Repubblica.  

In May 1915, and before establishing Van Doran Street Laundry, located in Corona, Queens, Antonio lives in New Jersey and is hired as a supervisor for one of Princeton, New Jersey’s quarries known for mining the regions famous, Gray Princeton brownstone. However, still an Italian citizen, Antonio returns to Italy to serve in the Italian Army during WWI, under Italy’s conscription laws. He is awarded the Italian Medal of Honor for his bravery at the Battle of the Isonzo (1915-1917), where he defended Italy against Austro-Hungarian Powers, alongside the Allied Powers of France, Britain, and Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_the_Isonzo

In 1930, Antonio becomes a U.S. citizen. One year later, in 1931, he fears for his family with the onset of WWII, so Antonio, brings the remainder of his family, still living in Lioni, Italy, to the U.S. on the S.S. Conte Grande, a steam-ocean liner. Family members included, Leigh’s mother, Antoinette, Leigh’s maternal grandmother, Victoria (DeConza) Nittoli, and Leigh’s two remaining uncles, Daniel and Michael. Leigh’s uncles, Rocco and Angelo are already in the U.S. After gaining U.S. citizenship, Michael and Angelo serve in the U.S. Army during WWII. First, second and third Nittoli family members, cousins, still living in Lioni, Italy, remain on the Nittoli family’s large farm that produced goat’s milk for Lioni’s famous goat cheese industry. https://sistemairpinia.provincia.avellino.it/en/comuni/lioni

Fromm 1930 through the mid-1950s, with a thriving business well under way, Antonio travels to and from italy as a benefactor. He is knighted for nhis humanitarian deeds in Italy and the U.S. after WWII as the Grand Official of the Order of Constantine of Antioch with (2) merits by Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XII. Philanthropic projects include while being President of Lioni’s Reconstruction Committee after WWII, Antonio Nittoli builds a children’s orphanage along with other proejcts. He also has his biography written by Joseph Manzella, A Benefactor: The Grande Ufficiale Antonio Nittoli, published by Lioni Press.

At the age of sixteen, Leigh inherits her mother’s signed edition of A Benefactor: The Grande Ufficiale Antonio Nittoli, and has her grandfather’s memior translated from Italian to English, as a date for hire project, by Susan Connors, of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In return, Leigh paints Susan’s portrait pictured below.

NITTOLI NOBLE COAT OF ARMS

Along with Leigh’s three older sisters, she is the armiger of the Nittoli Coat of Arms. In the field of heraldry, a coat of arms is designed and approved by a heraldic artist sanctioned by Italy. The Nittoli coat of arms includes symbols and colors designed to represent the history of the Nittoli family. Symbols on the Nittoli shield represent allegiance, nobility and honor: Yellow is gold for nobility, glory, high status, red for military strength and magnanimity, and blue for loyalty and truth.

The Nittoli shield depicts symbols with allegiance to King Charles of Anjou. Charles of Anjou was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty, and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily from 1266 to 1285. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_Anjou

Anjou’s label with four red bars is across the upper length of the Nittoli shield. Eagles represent allegiance to the Catholic Church, and fleur-de-lis loyalty to France.

The original Nittoli coat of arms is archived in Florence, Italy, and the second with Leigh Rose. Leigh’s armiger, pictured below, was passed down to the author by her mother, Antoinette Nittoli-Messano.

Leigh’s Armiger

Leigh is also related to the famous sculptor, Pietro (Peter) Nittoli, and a second, Antonio Nittoli, the 19th century nobleman and former President of the Italian Royal Institute of Medicine.

Pietro Nittoli, is a famous Baroque polychrome wood sculptor that worked during the mid-18th century. His sculptures are still admired today housed in many Southern Italy churches, especially in Campania, Italy, and cited by many scholars. One article is titled “Masterpieces of Middle Earth. Works of art from the Middle Ages to the Baroque.” An image of Saint Michael fighting Satan is pictured below:

Archangel Saint Michael Fighting Satan