The Keeper: Part 1 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781662951862)

Mariano Giovanelli is a twenty-year-old NHL goaltender playing for the Vancouver Canucks. He is a rookie sensation at the peak of his season when his wife and the love of his life, Angie, tragically and unexpectedly dies giving birth to their first child, Michael. While grieving the death of his wife, Mariano realizes he cannot be both a great father and a great hockey goalie. Forced to decide between playing the sport he loves and raising his son, Mariano, with little hesitation, chooses to focus his energy on being a parent. Seventeen years later, Michael is a top prospect in the NHL. During a training camp, Michael takes a hit that puts him in a coma. Mary, Mariano's spirted Italian mother, tries to convince her thirty-seven-year-old, out-of-shape son into a comeback as a goalie-arguably the most difficult and dangerous position in all of sports. As Mariano watches his son fight for his life and struggle to learn how to eat, talk, and walk again, he becomes inspired. The Keeper, part one of The Keeper series, is a dual-comeback story filled with love, tears, laughter, motivation, and Italian food.