Douglas Vaughn is the author of From the Heights. According
to the book description of From the Heights, it “begins in the New York City of the 1930’s
and takes the reader to the war in the Pacific and the secret workings of the OSS in Italy and Switzerland during World War
II. It is a story of the privileged that summer in South Hampton and the poor who swim in the Harlem River.
It is a story of social climbing and empire building. It follows the lives and loves of two generations
and delves into the inner workings of the New York City Police Department and battles fought by United States Marines in Vietnam.
But
more than anything else, it is a story of love won and love lost and how pride, prejudice and good intentions can lead to
fates and consequences unintended and undreamed of.
Val
Greene, a high ranking member of the CIA keeps a secret from his best friend, Danny Blaine, the owner of the largest privately
owned real estate company in the world. The two serve together with the OSS in Northern Italy during World
War II and remain lifelong friends. Val keeps this secret, made reluctantly, but with the best of intentions,
for decades. It changes the course of many lives and will eventually devastate the two friends and reach
far into the next generation of Blaines and Greenes.
The
truth will finally come out, but no one involved will remain unscarred. Some will loose everything while
others will become rich. Some will be killed and others will kill. One will commit acts
of cruelty unthinkable to most. One will put an end to his life and another will go into seclusion.
One will grow up not knowing who he really is. And, the most confident one of all will enter a world
of unreality, never to return.”
