Someone gave me this book, and I wasn't expecting much; I mean, I am not a die-hard loyal Clevelander, like the giver. I've only been there once, and not even on purpose. But once the story got going, it was fabulous. A great read.

From the jacket flap:
In 1948 Cleveland was America's sixth biggest city; by 1969 it was the twelfth. For Easterners, Cleveland is where the Midwest begins; for Westerners, it is where the East begins.

In the summer of 1948 fourteen-year-old David Zielinsky can look forward to a job at the docks. Anne O'Connor, at twelve, is the apple of her political boss father's eye. David and Anne will meet- and fall in love- four years later, and for the next twenty years this pair will be reluctantly star-crossed lovers in a troubled and turbulent country.

A natural born storyteller, Mark Winegardner spins an epic tale of that twenty years, artfully weaving into the tapestry real-life Clevelanders like Elliot Ness, Alan Freed, and Carl Stokes...His masterful saga of this conflicted city is a novel that speaks with memorable truth.

RELEASE NOTES:

Waiting room