Peter Sarno taught literature and memoir courses at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and has published essays, reviews, and short stories. While a graduate student at UMass, he won the Donald E Cookson prize in nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Music World magazine, Sweet Potato, Gannet newspapers, Gatehouse Media, and other outlets. In a starred review, BlueInk said Visions of Johanna is "A beautifully written literary novel . . . Sarno's use of metaphors and lush language draws readers into the story . . . [who] may shed a tear or two before the final page is turned." IndieReader named it one of their "Best Reviewed Books of September 2022" calling it "an engaging, mature and compelling debut novel which carries great emotional weight" while Publishers Weekly's BookLife termed the novel a "beautifully intimate romance that doesn't shy away from challenging topics." "Well-written with deeply complex characters and many different beautiful settings Visions of Johanna is worth reading more than once" Kristi Elizabeth of the Manhattan Book Review wrote, continuing, "I really enjoyed the discussion questions at the end of the book and feel this would be a perfect book club book. With questions that address the concepts of faith and hope to the efforts put towards the women's movement, there is a lot that can be talked about in this novel. Detailed, wonderfully written, and thought-provoking . . . will have readers thinking long after they put the book down." "Johanna and Matt's romance is deep and intense, but the distance between Boston and the Big Apple presents many challenges . . . Sarno, an award-winning nonfiction author, literature professor, and journalist, paints an evocative portrait of New York and Boston in the '80s, with nods to an eclectic group of musicians ranging from Dylan and Joan Jett to Debbie Gibson. The details of Matt's backstory are rich and intriguing," said Kirkus Reviews.