No Sun Without Shadow by Roger SeLegue

About the book

No Sun Without Shadow is a novel that explores the clash of two religious cultures-Jewish and Christian, in a contemporary world that is trying to decide whose religious teachings of God is the true way and whose precepts should be honored and followed. How far can tolerance go between the two warring factions?

The central character, Vergil Tynan, is very dissatisfied with the daily routine of his job at a large insurance company. The novel opens with Vergil's discovery of Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus asking whether life is or is not worth living strikes a deep nerve in Vergil to the point it progressively turns to an obsession. Vergil identifies with Sisyphus who is doomed to pushing a boulder up a mountain only to endlessly repeat the action anew after reaching the top.

Having impregnated his domineering but sexually exciting Jewish girlfriend, Regina Lazar -- a divorcee with a young daughter -- who demands Vergil marry her or she will have an abortion. Regina's father reveals how he survived the Holocaust after decades of silence causing her to demand the baby be raised strictly and solely in the Jewish faith. On the other side Vergil, a lapsed Catholic, feels obligated to raise the child in the Church. This poses a highly charged and polarizing disagreement to an already volatile relationship.

Meantime at the insurance company, Vergil runs into a young Mexican-American woman, Perdita Esperanza. The romance flowers at first but is ruined by his loutish drunken behavior and terminated by Perdita. Perdita then becomes in Vergil's grinding imagination the perfect woman -- lost for all time.

Throughout his torment Vergil alternates between his only comforts: sex with wild electrifying Regina; escapism: scuba diving outings with his buddy and roommate Nick and compulsive readings of The Myth of Sisyphus.

More than half the novel takes place in Las Vegas over a weekend in which among other things the couple are married in a wedding chapel. The novel follows their various activities -- a Wayne Newton Concert -- the Liberace Museum -- a visit to Hoover Dam and the Ethel M Candy Factory. All moves the novel forward and further explodes the character of the couple as they mightily struggle to come to terms with each other's separate wants and desires in order to build a life together. The climax to the novel takes place in the water off Catalina Island, where Vergil drowns while scuba diving. The scene of the "Epilogue" takes place with Regina at Vergil's gravesite which ties up the loose ends of the story line.

About the author

Roger SeLegue's business background consists of working for various and different insurance-type companies from life insurance to title insurance to casualty companies. Most of his experience has been in insurance claims. A manager once told him: "Claims was the romance of the insurance business."

Currently he is an attorney, mainly practicing in the fields of personal injury, workers compensation, and subrogation. As an attorney, he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants. He also gained jury experience in prosecuting criminal cases for the City of Los Angeles.

No Sun Without Shadow is his third novel. The first, The Wayward Winds, was self-published and The Kingman Brief remains in manuscript form.