The Martin Chronicles - Softcover

Fried, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1538729849 ISBN 13: 9781538729847

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2020

Synopsis

A powerful and heartfelt coming-of-age novel that follows Martin Kelso as he grows up in 1980s New York and faces the magic of first experiences, as well as the heartbreak of hard-won life lessons. Martin Kelso's comfortable world starts to change at the age of eleven. Girls get under his skin in ways he never noticed before. His cousin Evie, who used to be Marty's closest confidante--the one who taught him the right way to eat a pizza and how to catch tadpoles--has grown up into a stranger, mysterious and unpredictable. Marty and his best friends once inhabited fantasy worlds of their own making, full of cowboys and cops and robbers, where the heroes always won the day. But now, as neighborhood kids are attacked on their walk to school, they find themselves wanting to play a new game that better prepares them for real life. As life changes quickly and Marty feels less secure with himself, the difference between games and reality, friend and foe, and right from wrong becomes much more difficult to distinguish. At the same time, this new world offers possibilities as exciting as they are frightening. This poignant debut perfectly captures the intense emotion, humor, and earnestness of young adulthood as Marty, age eleven to seventeen, navigates a series of life-changing firsts: first kiss, first enemy, first loss, and, ultimately, his first awareness that the world is not as simple a place as he had once imagined. Includes a Reading Group Guide.

About this title

About the Author

John Fried teaches creative writing at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He received his MFA from Warren Wilson College's Program for Writers. His short fiction has appeared in numerous journals, including the Gettysburg Review, North American Review, and Columbia Journal. Prior to teaching, he was a magazine writer and editor in New York, and his work appeared in various publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, New York, Time, and Real Simple.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1538729849
• ISBN 13: 9781538729847
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288