By: Jennifer Marino
This is not O-Donnell-s first foray into the writing world. He had success as a playwright with his musical comedy Robin for Good. The play is based on the Robin Hood legends and had a successful run in Canada. His drama, Twisters played on Manhattan-s Theatre Row and seven of his one act plays have been produced around New York.
Though he spent 38 years in the record business at RCA/Victor Records, O-Donnell has had the drive to write since he was 16 years old. During World War II, he manned a Morse code station in China and had free time and access to a typewriter. He wrote half a novel and sent it to a publisher in the United States. She wrote back with encouraging words.
If Truman hadn-t dropped that bomb, I would-ve finished that novel, said O-Donnell. But the war did end, and O-Donnell had a beautiful lady, his wife Dolores, waiting for him back home. They married and had seven children. Writing was put aside, and he worked to support his family. He has lived in Rockville Centre for about 34 years and now has five grandchildren.
What a thrill it was to hold that book in my hands, he said, after having written eight novels that did not get published. The novel centers on new novelist Art Chessman and his mysterious and dangerous literary agent Lucille Belzar. Chessman becomes bound to Belzar in virtual servitude but tries to save a young reporter, Molly Grayson, from the same fate.
O-Donnell says he was inspired to write the book by ambition and the dangerous extremes to which it can drive people. He dedicated the book to his adorable wife and their children.
He will be at the Borders bookstore in Syosset on May 12 and he will also appear at the Waldenbooks in Green Acres mall, but the date has yet to be set for that appearance. An excerpt from the novel is available online at www.thewitchofgreenwichvillage.com/main.htm.
