Long before he published his first novel, Mars-area author John Altamura was wrestling with questions about grief, loss and the lingering impact of Sept. 11, 2001.
It wasn’t a story about September 11, 2001 itself. Instead, it was about what came afterward — the grief, loss, addiction and resilience experienced by those left to rebuild their lives after tragedy.
That story eventually became Seven Years in Chicago: Part I: Survival, a 409-page literary fiction novel recently selected for inclusion in the IngramSpark Author Exhibit at the 2026 American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago.
“It’s a story I kept coming back to,” Altamura said. “I wanted to explore what happens after tragedy when the rest of the world moves on.”
The Mars-area author drew inspiration from his own life experiences living in New Jersey, Upstate New York and Chicago, though he emphasizes that the novel itself is a work of fiction.
The story follows Jack Almanti, a young man whose life is shattered when he loses the woman he planned to marry during the September 11 terrorist attacks. In the years that follow, Jack struggles with grief, alcoholism, fractured relationships and the challenge of finding purpose in a life forever changed by loss.
While the novel centers on fictional characters, Altamura said many of the emotions explored in the book were influenced by experiences he witnessed firsthand while living in New Jersey before and shortly after 9/11.
Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Altamura discovered his passion for writing while attending college in Upstate New York. Over the years, he worked in journalism, communications, marketing and management positions while living in several states. His career eventually took him to Chicago, where many of the experiences that shaped the larger story began to take form.
“The seven years I spent there, the jobs, the people, the mistakes, the loneliness and the effort to rebuild a life all helped shape the story,” he said.
The novel is the first installment in a planned seven-book series following Jack’s journey through the years after 9/11. Altamura began developing the larger series during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating character dossiers, timelines and story outlines before committing himself to a disciplined writing schedule.
“I sat down and committed to writing six pages a day,” he said. “I kept that pace for about three years.”
Although Seven Years in Chicago: Part I: Survival was originally published in June 2024, Altamura continued revising and strengthening the manuscript before releasing the current edition.
The book has earned positive reviews from independent reviewers, including an IndieReader Approved designation and a four-star review from Reedsy Discovery, which described the novel as “lived-in, raw and painfully human.”
“For many people, 9/11 is not simply a historical event,” he said. “It remains personal, unresolved and difficult to revisit.”
While Survival is the darkest entry planned in the series, Altamura said the story ultimately offers a message of endurance and hope.
“Life is not always clean or easy, and many people carry struggles that others never fully see,” he said. “The book is ultimately about survival and the possibility that a person can still move forward after being broken.”
Altamura is currently revising Seven Years in Chicago: Part II: Resilience, which he hopes to release in 2027.
Readers can learn more about the book and the series at SYICBook.com or purchase paperback and Kindle editions through Amazon.
