J. Peter Bergman is interviewed by CBS Radio’s Benji Cole about his book “Small Ironies,” which is about a peculiar and disturbing—yet intriguing and potentially appealing lifestyle

J. Peter Bergman and Benji Cole discuss Small Ironies, an exceptional literary work that dares to mirror the life of a seemingly ordinary family who lives honestly, but the story reveals a hidden truth that—there is more.

J. Peter Bergman, the author, was born in 1946 in New York City. He has lived through the times documented in this book and knew many of the people who inspired the characters. Since 1961, he has been a published author in poetry, journalism, fiction, and theater. He has had over a dozen plays commissioned and staged as an actor and director. Peter Bergman is a filmmaker who lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. He is a founding member of the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition and contributes to a variety of publications, including Edge.com and his own website, BerkshireBrightFocus.com.

Small Ironies is a book that depicts circumstances in which people are compelled to hide the truth about reality in order to honor the existence of honesty. This book has its own unique approach to artistically expressing a story.

Max Draper, the younger child in a regular American family growing up in New York City, is the protagonist of Small Ironies. His life is as simple as it can be, and his family appears to be as normal as imaginable. However, there is one caveat. Prostitution has been in his family for centuries.

He falls in love with a childhood friend, a girl named Freddy, who is raised in an environment that fosters honesty. That love and everything it entails, hides his actual nature, his homosexuality, and living with that irony lead him down a path he could never have imagined. Max discovers the truth about his friends’ secrets, desires, and faults, putting a world of tolerance and understanding to the test.

Listen to the full interview below: