In the Shadow of the El

      Like a magnetic force, memories of our childhood pull at our emotions, drawing us to days gone by. I traveled back recently to those days, to my old neighborhood, and found the toy box Ma had saved. Inside, I rediscovered my lost Eden—traces of the corner candy store
. . . the beautiful little girl with marble brown eyes . . . the big ball game in the park . . . Come back for awhile to the Brooklyn of the fifties. Slurp lemon ices, pry open Johnny pumps on sultry nights, and rub up new spaldeens. Come imagine and grow up with me again!—John Fabrizio

      In the tradition of great storytellers such as Garrison Keillor, Jean Shepherd, and Pete Hamill, comes a defining work of powerful attraction. Through the coming-of-age experiences of a boy in Brooklyn, the reader falls back to a time “when things were better” or “to the good old days”—whether they were or not. Employing lyrical narrative and evocative description, stories unfold about such themes as: the uncertainty and awkwardness of first love, the freedom and energy of games in the park, the restrictions and tensions of grammar school and the Church, and finally, the drama and resolution of the “big game” in the neighborhood. As the boy experiences childhood, even the deepest personal memories lodged within the reader become exposed and sharpened. By the end, the boy and the reader blend into one—separated only by detail, and perhaps time. Thus, In the Shadow of the El serves as a powerful stimulant, a prescription taken through our eyes and digested by our minds, as often as required.