“I didn’t start writing with a book in mind. I started writing to try to understand what was going on in my life,” explains Bruno Cocorocchio, author of Mea Culpa: A Plea of Innocence.
With the help of creative writing courses, and introspection via support groups, Cocorocchio found himself with a story outline, and eventually a completed manuscript.
“I learnt to verbalize my feelings and experiences. I decided to bare my soul. I had nothing to hold back,” Cocorocchio continues.
The result is a 200-page memoir that explores the author’s lifelong struggle to gain his parents’ approval and to overcome the resulting guilt. In a series of vignettes, the reader is transported back in time to a small mountain village in post-war Italy where a young family grapples with poverty. As a boy, the author’s only coping strategy is to imagine himself as a Roman centurion in command of an army. Adding to his stress is a mother who constantly draws him into a relationship that requires blind devotion and cruel sacrifice. The story follows the author’s emigration to Canada with his family and his transition to adulthood. The looming affects of constant guilt mark every milestone in his life.
Mea Culpa examines the consequences of an immigrant parent’s burden on a child. In this story, a parent’s sacrifice – often touted as the backbone of Italian immigration to Canada – is not celebrated. Instead, it is exposed as a mental abuse on a child who is conditioned to feel guilt for all the bemoaning of a miserable and unhappy mother.
Cocorocchio was born in 1951 in a small Italian town southeast of Rome. His family immigrated to Canada in 1964. Ten years later, he completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto. During a 50-year career as an electrical engineer, Cocorocchio honed his skills as a storyteller. During retirement on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, he completed his first book at the end of 2021. Mea Culpa was released in March of 2022.
Cocorocchio credits his wife, Sandra Moffat, for helping finish the book.
“We’re both retired and we spend a lot of time together. Discussing the content of the book became a natural process. We didn’t fight, but Sandra was a tough editor,” he muses.
“We worked well together. The pandemic was almost a gift. We were in lock down, and so we worked on the book, almost like a forced writers’ retreat,” Moffat adds.
“Feedback has been supportive and encouraging. It feels good. Well, I should say, I’m going naked out there, emotionally, so I’m just getting used to it. Hopefully my book will be a blueprint to help others in similar situations,” Cocorocchio reflects.
To purchase a copy of Mea Culpa: A Plea of Innocence, visit www.brunococorocchio.com.
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