Our Felicity

When Mich Burnetti opens his door, he’s sure the young girl on the other side is there by mistake. After all, he already bought cookies from the neighborhood Girl Scouts. But when the girl asks for him by his full name, a name few people ever heard, he’s sure her visit is just a prank set up by his friends. The almost 14-year-old Felicity then asks him if he remembers Elyse, a girl he met in Venice, Italy 14 years earlier when he was studying abroad. Mich not only remembers her, but sees his entire life in terms of that girl: before Elyse, with Elyse, and after Elyse. Mich, an architect, was a rising star when he met Elyse, a student of art. Their playful banter, great conversations, and common likes and aspirations made them a perfect match. Everything they shared was perfect, and one day Elyse left; she disappeared leaving nothing except for an unfinished canvas, the only piece she ever painted that Mich didn’t like. In Our Felicity Elyse and Mich share their stories going back and forth between Venice, where they met and the present, while Mich learns to be a dad to the teenage girl he just met. Through it all Mich has to accept Elyse back into his life for their daughter’s sake. Elyse has to find a way to make Mich understand why she left him, and Mich struggles to comprehend how he can hate someone he still loves. But more importantly, and if he’s to move forward, Mich has to find a way to forgive Elyse, or at least accept his fate after she stole 14 years of his daughter’s life. The common denominators for Mich and Elyse are Felicity (their daughter), the love they’ll always share, and a desire to understand what happened and make things right. Told with emotion, insight, and humor, Our Felicity is an exercise of introspection, told in a conversational way.