I Will See You Again: Hearts Will Sing
In the spring of 1968, Paula Manto was vibrating with promise. The 18-year old scholar, athlete, devoted daughter and sister embodied the joy and social turmoil that drove the booming live music scene at the Jersey Shore. She was ready to set out on a monumental journey – the first in her family to go to college – on a full academic scholarship, no less. All of that hope and excitement came crashing down when the unspeakable happened. She got pregnant.
Unceremoniously kicked out of her strict Italian home, she makes the most difficult decision of her already difficult life. That decision quieted her joyful heart, until she received the phone call that she had dreamed about for decades.
Carson Pepe’s life has been fine. Just fine. He has a good job, some nice friends, and his parents love him. He has a list of accomplishments that look like all of the elements of a prosperous life. But the 54-year-old lawyer knows in his heart that something is missing. It’s never been a secret in his family that he was adopted. The secret is that Carson has never truly belonged, he is broken. He seeks wholeness in the comfort of the ocean, but learns that his search will only be complete when he finds her.
Paula Manto and Carson Pepe were one person–until they were not. First were separated by the act of birth, then by the signing of an official document issued by the State of New Jersey.
“I Will See You Again…Hearts Will Sing!” tracks their unpredictable and painful journeys as they hope to heal their own broken hearts.
Ken DeStefano is a domestic adoptee who was born in the late 1960’s. As an adoptee, he has had a largely happy life but always wondered about the unknown. That ember sparked when he looked into the faces of his newborn children and experienced mirroring for the first time.
Ken’s debut novel, I Will See You Again…Hearts Will Sing, tells the story of two people whose past, present, and future lives are inexplicably linked. Although the novel is fictional, it draws from his real feelings, insecurities, and challenges as an adoptee. In 2024, DeStefano’s novel was selected by the Tucson Festival of Books for recognition as an “Indie Author.” It also was a Winner of the International Impact Book Award and a Finalist for both of the American Fiction Awards and Page Turner Book Awards.
