Guideless The Rivers' Course

Stefano Duetaglis debut novel is an ambitious exploration of an array of issues including gender identity bigotry hypocrisy wrongful incarceration and ultimately hope. Guideless the Rivers Course follows the story of Stuart Walker Purloin. Given the name Margarite at birth Stuart lives into early adulthood feeling uncomfortable in his womans body. After enduring the prejudice of a small southern town full of people who judge his transvestite lifestyle Stuart completes gender reassignment surgery in Holland. Upon returning to his hometown Stuart becomes a convenient solution to a murder for which he is falsely accused; he lands in Floridas largest maximum-security prison. In prison Stuart begins a journey through hell much like the saga of Dantes Inferno. Like Dante who had Virgil to guide him through hell Stuart meets three Virgil-like saviors who guide him through the hell of prison. When Stuart is finally released he devises a plan to confront his false accuser. Stuart plots to commit the same heinous crime for which he was once imprisoned. Guideless the Rivers Course tells a story of self-exploration resolution and redemption for a good man who lived inside a good woman. Along the way Margarite and Stuart discover that not only are there many shades of gray between good and evil but sometimes the differences between the two are indecipherable.