Earlier this month, English professor Steven Belletto published “For You I Would Make an Exception,” his first published novel after several academic works. The novel centers around Pennsylvania-based English professor Will Sorley who discovers that he may have a long-lost daughter in Kenya, a country that he has never been to.
According to Belletto, the rest of the book focuses on Sorley grappling with this information and all of the events that follow.
“He’s like, ‘Is this a scam?’ He doesn’t know what’s going on,” Belletto said. “Then he finally decides ‘I’m gonna go to Kenya.’ He goes to Kenya, various things happen. So that’s kind of the motor of the book’s plot.”
A technique Belletto uses in writing this novel is making it seem as if the book is going in one direction at the start, but then morphing it into something completely different. He hopes that this element of the story makes the plot intriguing to readers.
“The idea is when you start reading that you’re like, ‘Oh, I know what this book is, I know what’s gonna happen,’” Belletto said. “Then it turns into something totally different.”
English professor Jennifer Gilmore wrote a blurb for Belletto’s novel and, according to her, the book has an exciting plot and unique narrative style.
“The specificity of the places and the wild ride of the narrator are unique to Belletto’s narrative style,” Gilmore wrote in an email. “It’s also hilarious, while still examining serious topics.”
“I hope [readers] see Prof. Belletto as a terrific new voice in fiction,” Gilmore wrote.
The novel’s plot involves its main character traveling around the world to places like Kenya and India. According to Belletto, the character’s partial lack of knowledge about these places he travels to is an intentional commentary on the idea that nobody ever has a complete understanding of the world around them.
“Having a character who has limited knowledge about the rest of the world, that to me is actually kind of a [powerful position],” Belletto said. “Because we all go around in partial knowledge of the world, even where you live, right? And so that’s kind of thematic.”
Camsey Noonan ‘26, Belletto’s current EXCEL Scholar, feels that Belletto’s travel experience likely provided good insight into this character’s mindset.
“I do understand that [the novel is] kind of like a narrative that travels across a lot of countries,” Noonan said, “Honestly, that’s just one thing that I think is interesting and interesting to kind of pick his brain about – his experiences abroad and things like that.”
Belletto feels that his understanding of an author’s perspective provides useful insight to him when he teaches classes.
“I know how to kind of inhabit [the fiction writer] perspective,” Belletto said. “I mean, I try to steer [students] away from saying we know exactly what the author is doing because we don’t.”
Belletto also acknowledges that not all readers look for the same elements in a piece of writing and attributes that to why he implemented attention-grabbing elements into the story.
“I was trying to kind of marry that a little bit in that book,” Belletto said. “Try to have a fast pace and little cliffhangers and things like that, so people want to keep reading.”
“For You I Would Make an Exception” is available for purchase on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.
Madeline Marriott ’24 contributed reporting.
Chris Phillips • Oct 27, 2023 at 1:00 pm
It’s also available at the College Store. Congratulations, Steve!