ABOUT THE BOOK
The dual challenges of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that threatens the world and the unexplained loss of two parents that threatens a family are the driving forces behind the lives of two boys and their grandfather.
Willie, Denny and their grandfather, Pop, have lived together for nine years, ever since the boys’ parents died in an accident that remains a mystery to the boys. Denny reluctantly leaves for college, while Willie enters sixth grade, fearful of the menacing missile crisis and curious about his parents’ fate.
Willie’s best friends are Lucy and Preston. Lucy wonders about the ‘man in the suit’ who seems to be everywhere she goes. Her mom, Trish, grapples with unemployment. Preston is burdened by the trauma his father experiences from involvement in two wars. Denny meets his first ever girlfriend at college, Lucy, who has one leg that’s shorter than the other. Good neighbor, Robert is building a bomb shelter in the back year. Muriel, his mother is a shoot-from-the-hip older adult with dementia.
Over time, the connections between them create the shelter they need for their common journey. This is a story of human vulnerability, endurance, secrets, truth, loss, humor, resilience, and love.
