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Once a Runner: A Novel
By John L. Parker Jr.. 1990
Originally self-published in 1978, Once a Runner captures the essence of competitive running—and of athletic competition in general—and has become…
one of the most beloved sports novels ever published.Inspired by the author’s experience as a collegiate champion, the story focuses on Quenton Cassidy, a competitive runner at fictional Southeastern University whose lifelong dream is to run a four-minute mile. He is less than a second away when the turmoil of the Vietnam War era intrudes into the staid recesses of his school’s athletic department. After he becomes involved in an athletes’ protest, Cassidy is suspended from his track team. Under the tutelage of his friend and mentor, Bruce Denton, a graduate student and former Olympic gold medalist, Cassidy gives up his scholarship, his girlfriend, and possibly his future to withdraw to a monastic retreat in the countryside and begin training for the race of his life against the greatest miler in history. A rare insider’s account of the incredibly intense lives of elite distance runners, Once a Runner is an inspiring, funny, and spot-on tale of one man’s quest to become a champion.True Story: this genre-defying novel marks the arrival of a powerful new literary voice
By Kate Reed Petty. 2020
Inventive, electrifying and daring, True Story is a novel like nothing you've ever read before.*One of Entertainment Weekly's top five…
reads of the summer*'A mind-blowing page-turning un-put-downable heartwarming empathetic formally inventive horror suspense thriller, with a life-affirming and timely feminist message' Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot'This debut novel unfolds like a mystery, flitting between genres to weave an inventive tale' Buzzfeed (29 Summer books you wont be able to put down)After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they'll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick - a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by - will never forget.That's just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other - some real, some invented - until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed. Startlingly relevant and enthralling in its brilliance, True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth. It introduces Kate Reed Petty as a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction.True Story: this genre-defying novel marks the arrival of a powerful new literary voice
By Kate Reed Petty. 2020
Inventive, electrifying and daring, True Story is a novel like nothing you've ever read before.*One of Entertainment Weekly's top five…
reads of the summer*'A mind-blowing page-turning un-put-downable heartwarming empathetic formally inventive horror suspense thriller, with a life-affirming and timely feminist message' Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot'This debut novel unfolds like a mystery, flitting between genres to weave an inventive tale' Buzzfeed (29 Summer books you wont be able to put down)After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they'll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick - a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by - will never forget.That's just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other - some real, some invented - until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed. Startlingly relevant and enthralling in its brilliance, True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth. It introduces Kate Reed Petty as a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction.The Lido: The uplifting, feel-good bestseller you need to read in 2021
By Libby Page. 2018
Dive into the uplifting, feel-good bestseller about the joy of friendship and the power of community - the perfect read…
for 2021!Meet Rosemary, 86, and Kate, 26: dreamers, campaigners, outdoor swimmers...Rosemary has lived in Brixton all her life, but everything she knows is changing. Only the local lido, where she swims every day, remains a constant reminder of the past and her beloved husband George. Kate has just moved and feels adrift in a city that is too big for her. She's on the bottom rung of her career as a local journalist, and is determined to make something of it. So when the lido is threatened with closure, Kate knows this story could be her chance to shine. But for Rosemary, it could be the end of everything. Together they are determined to make a stand, and to prove that the pool is more than just a place to swim - it is the heart of the community.PRAISE FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'Feel-good and uplifting, this charming novel is full of heart' LUCY DIAMOND'A joyous and uplifting debut' SARAH WINMAN'The Lido has a heart that shines from every page' A J PEARCE'Brimming with charm and compassion' DAILY EXPRESS _________________________________________________Libby Page's uplifting new novel about community and finding where you belong, THE ISLAND HOME, is available to pre-order now!Lost Empress
By Sergio De La Pava. 2018
"Ambitious, affecting, intelligent, plangent, comic, kooky and impassioned. I've read a lot of novels this year, between judging the Man…
Booker prize and the Granta Best of Young British Novelists, and I've yearned for this kind of exuberant, precise fiction" Stuart Kelly, Guardian on A Naked SingularityIt would take something huge to put Paterson, New Jersey on the map.But Nina Gill is determined to do just that. She is the daughter of the ageing owner of the Dallas Cowboys and the well-kept secret to their success. Shocked when her brother inherits the team, leaving her with the Paterson Pork, New Jersey's only Indoor Football League franchise, she vows to take on the N.F.L. and make her new team the pigskin kings of America.Meanwhile, Nuno DeAngeles - a brilliant criminal mastermind - contrives to be thrown into Rikers Island prison to commit one of the most audacious crimes of all time. Now he's on the inside, he has two good reasons to get out. But how does a person of culture go about breaking out of the penal system when the whole of the land of the free is addicted to keeping him in it?Without knowing it, or ever having met, Nina and Nuno have already had a profound effect on each other's lives. As his bid for freedom and her bid for sporting immortality reach crisis point, their stories converge in the countdown to an epic conclusion. Thrilling, touching, insightful and shockingly hilarious, De La Pava's extraordinary novel gets under the skin and into the minds of a vast cast of characters from the fringes of society - immigrants, exiles and outsiders.No Blood, No Foul: A Novel
By Charley Rosen. 2008
Jason Lewis is a star college basketball player just back from World War II. He's a hero, missing two fingers…
on his shooting hand. He can't play any longer, so he makes the ultimate ballplayer's sacrifice: he becomes a referee. Set in postwar New York during the founding of what will eventually be the NBA, No Blood, No Foul is the story of a man who must come to terms with a debilitating injury and chase after dreams of perfection in a decidedly imperfect world. Charley Rosen gives us not only a lovingly faithful insider's look at the game of basketball, but a passionate story about what it meant to face life in an America that had lost its innocence.Winter Dreams: A Novel
By Don J. Snyder. 2004
A moving novel about love, loss, and an extraordinary lifelong passion for golf, by the acclaimed author of The Cliff…
Walk and Fallen Angel.Ross Lansdale never knew his mother and father and grew up at St. Luke's Orphanage for Boys in the 1950s. The one person who took an interest in him was Father Martin, a Benedictine monk who understood the loneliness of an orphan's life. He instilled in Ross an enduring love of two solitary, reliable pursuits: golf and books. Over the years, and through the loss of his beloved mentor, Ross comes to rely on these trustworthy tools, sure that they will never abandon him.As an adult and a college professor of literature, Ross encounters two people who will challenge and forever change his life: Julia, the student who opens his heart only to make him feel more vulnerable than ever, and Johnny Durocher, a spit-fire new professor-and terrifically talented golfer-who becomes Ross's first true friend. Durocher's one serious dream is to play the amateur tournament on the Old Course at Saint Andrews, but when an unforeseen tragedy keeps Johnny from playing, Ross must make the boldest decision of his life. As he travels to Scotland to confront his failures and fears, Ross embraces his wonder of the ancient game and plays a round of golf in honor of his friend, and the boy he used to be.With characteristic poignancy and style that have earned Don J. Snyder critical acclaim for his novels and screenplays, WINTER DREAMS is a remarkable new work filled with compassion, heartache, and the grace that comes from the triumph of personal courage.The Folded Earth: A Novel
By Anuradha Roy. 2012
In a remote town in the Himalaya, Maya tries to put behind her a time of great sorrow. By day…
she teaches in a school and at night she types up drafts of a magnum opus by her landlord, a relic of princely India known to all as Diwan Sahib. Her bond with this eccentric, and her friendship with a peasant girl, Charu, give her the sense that she might be able to forge a new existence away from the devastation of her past. As Maya finds out, no place is remote enough or small enough. The world she has come to love, where people are connected with nature, is endangered by the town's new administration. The impending elections are hijacked by powerful outsiders who divide people and threaten the future of her school. Charu begins to behave strangely, and soon Maya understands that a new boy in the neighbourhood may be responsible. When Diwan Sahib's nephew arrives to set up his trekking company on their estate, she is drawn to him despite herself, and finally she is forced to confront bitter and terrible truths. A many-layered and powerful narrative, by turns poetic, elegiac and comic, by the author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing.The Way Back: The funny, insightful and hopeful family adventure you need in 2021
By Jamie Fewery. 2020
A moving, funny, sweeping and emotional family drama perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Beth O'Leary, Mike Gayle and Caroline…
Hulse.* * * * * * *If you're reading this, my funeral must have just finished. I've got something to ask of you...Who knows, you might even enjoy it?The Cadogan children haven't spoken to each other for three years. But their father, Gerry, has a plan to bring them together. To scatter his ashes, they must first drive his old camper van up to Scotland...For the trip, Gerry has provided them with three family photo albums and a bottle of single malt whisky.But will the journey help banish their ghosts and turn them back into a family? Or will it show them exactly why they've stayed apart for so long?* * * * * * *Praise for Jamie Fewery:'Moving, honest, sad and hopeful' MIRANDA DICKINSON'Will melt your heart' VERONICA HENRY'Clever, moving, funny, insightful' ZOE FOLBIGG'Made me do a proper ugly cry' DOMESTIC SLUTTERYThe Unseen: SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017
By Roy Jacobsen. 2013
Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and the Dublin Literary Award"An absolute masterpiece. Packed with understated emotion, stunning from…
beginning to end" Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time"A masterful and moving work of literature" Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies"Easily among the best books I have ever read" Eileen Battersby, Irish Times"A beautifully crafted novel . . . Quite simply a brilliant piece of work" Charlie Connolly, New European"A blunt, brilliant book" Tom Graham, Financial TimesNobody can leave an island. An island is a cosmos in a nutshell, where the stars slumber in the grass beneath the snow. But occasionally someone tries . . . Ingrid Barrøy is born on an island that bears her name - a holdfast for a single family, their livestock, their crops, their hopes and dreams.Her father dreams of building a quay that will connect them to the mainland, but closer ties to the wider world come at a price. Her mother has her own dreams - more children, a smaller island, a different life - and there is one question Ingrid must never ask her.Island life is hard, a living scratched from the dirt or trawled from the sea, so when Ingrid comes of age, she is sent to the mainland to work for one of the wealthy families on the coast.But Norway too is waking up to a wider world, a modern world that is capricious and can be cruel. Tragedy strikes, and Ingrid must fight to protect the home she thought she had left behind.Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don ShawSOON TO BE A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES 'An absolute scorcher' Evening Standard'Fidelity thrilled me, made me think and moved me…
deeply. As deep as any literature and as irresistible as any gossip' Jonathan Safran Foer'Intimate and ultimately moving... completely absorbing'Daily Mail'Cuts right through to the darkness of our inner lives'Roberto Saviano'A gripping novel exploring the tensions in an apparently idyllic marriage' Financial Times 'A must-read'Sydney Morning HeraldCarlo, a part-time professor of creative writing, and Margherita, an architect-turned-real estate-agent: a happily married couple in their mid-thirties, perfectly attuned to each other's restlessness. They are in love, but they also harbour desires that stray beyond the confines of their bedroom: Carlo longs for the quiet beauty of one of his students, Sofia; Margherita fantasises about the strong hands of her physiotherapist, Andrea.But it is love, with its unassuming power, which ultimately pulls them from the brink, aided by Margherita's mother Anna, the couple's anchor and lighthouse - a wise, proud seamstress hiding her own disappointments.But after eight years of repressed desires and the birth of a son, when the past resurfaces in the form of books sent anonymously, will love be enough to save them? A no. 1 international bestsellerSoon to be a Netflix show directed by Andrea Molaioli, director of the Netflix hit series SuburraWinner of the Premio Strega GiovaniShortlisted for the Premio Strega'Powerful, delicate, exquisite' Claudio Magris 'Masterful... The ending is just as good as that of Joyce's The Dead' Corriere della Sera'You'll feel like taking refuge in this book and never leaving its confines' La Stampa'With all-encompassing writing, Marco Missiroli opens the rooms of his characters and the streets of Milan, the thoughts and the concealed desires, makes dialogue and silences reverberate with the spontaneity of great narrators' Il FoglioThe Smash-Up: a delicious satire from a breakout voice in literary fiction
By Ali Benjamin. 2021
AN OF-THE-MOMENT NOVEL FOR READERS OF FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE'Timely, risky and dazzling' Polly Clark, author of Tiger'Sharply funny, perceptive,…
and surprising at every turn, The Smash-Up is a story that's acid-etched and full of heart, intimate, and relevant' Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses and Away'Every woman should read this book. Every woman, every feminist, every activist' Jane Harris, author of Orange Prize shortlisted The ObservationsAfter years spent in the city, working with his business partner Randy on Bränd media, Ethan finds himself in the quiet, closed-off town of Starkfield. His wife Zenobia is perpetually distracted by the swirling #MeToo politics, the Kavanaugh hearings, and her duties to the feminist activism group she formed: All Them Witches. Ethan finds himself caught between their regular meetings at his home and the battle to get his livewire daughter Alex to sleep.But the new, stilted rhythm of his life is interrupted when he receives a panicked message. Accusations. Against Randy. A slew of them. And Ethan is abruptly forced to question everything: his past, his future, his marriage, and what he values most.Unrelenting in its satire, The Smash-up jolts you into the twisted psyche of successful brand advertising, where historic exploitation is only ever a panicked phone-call away. With magnetic energy and doses of comic wit, Benjamin creates a world of social media algorithms, extreme polarization, the collapsing of identity into tweet-sized spaces, and the spectre of violence that can be found even in the quietest places.The Paper Lantern
By Will Burns. 2021
'Will Burns is a soulful English poet of the kind we don't make enough of' MAX PORTER'Hugely affecting and timely'…
LUKE TURNER'A boldly struck chord, one that contains many of the dissonances, but also the harmonies, found in England today' CHRIS POWERIn THE PAPER LANTERN, a single speaker charts and interrogates the shifts in mood and understanding that have defined a surreal, transformative period in both his own history and that of the surrounding area. Set in a shuttered pub - The Paper Lantern - in a village in the very middle of the country adjacent to the Chequers estate, the narrator embarks on a series of walks in the Chiltern Hills, which become the landscape for evocations of a past scarred with trauma and a present lacking compass. From local raves in secret valleys and the history of landmarks such as Halton House, to the fallout of the lockdown period, climate change and capitalism, THE PAPER LANTERN creates a tangible, lived-in, complicated rendering of a place.'I absolutely loved it - what a wise, brilliant book - so well observed on families and love and the…
secrets we keep.' RACHAEL LUCAS, author of The State of Grace***** 'I wish I could buy a ticket and visit Polperran . . . A wonderfully sweet and authentic reminder of what we should treasure in life' Meggy, Chocolate'n'Waffles***** 'Lived up to all my expectations and more. I could not stop reading . . . Lovely, touching, compelling' Sophie, Book Drunk Sophie***** 'It's only right that you do yourselves a favour and treat yourself to this book . . . Touching and heartwarming' Karen, Books and Me***** 'A novel that just felt like a literary warm hug. The world needs more kindness especially just now, and this is the perfect book' Netgalley reviewer***** 'Reminded me of Rosamund Pilcher's novels . . . I can't recommend it enough' Netgalley reviewer***** 'At the top of my book buying gift list for friends & family . . . Loved it!' Amazon reviewerStep 1. Help the lonely baker start againStep 2. Find the true calling of the village shop ownerStep 3. Call a truce on a decades-old feudStep 4. Forgive me . . . ?The locals of the Cornish village of Polperran are grieving the sudden loss of Bea Kimbrel, a cornerstone of their small community.Now her reclusive, estranged daughter Alice has turned up, keen to tie up Bea's affairs and move on. But Alice receives a strange bequest from Bea - a collection of unfinished tasks to help out those in Polperran most in need. As each little act brings her closer to understanding her mother, it also begins to offer Alice the courage to open her clamped-shut heart. Perhaps Bea's project will finally unlock the powerful secrets both women have been keeping . . . THE KINDNESS PROJECT will draw you deep into the lives of two compelling women who should never have missed their chance to say goodbye. It will break your heart - and piece it back together again . . .'I absolutely lovedit - what a wise, brilliant book - so well observed on families and love and the secrets…
we keep.' RACHAEL LUCAS, author of The State of Grace***** 'I wish I could buy a ticket and visit Polperran . . . A wonderfully sweet and authentic reminder of what we should treasure in life' Meggy, Chocolate'n'Waffles***** 'Lived up to all my expectations and more. I could not stop reading . . . Lovely, touching, compelling' Sophie, Book Drunk Sophie***** 'It's only right that you do yourselves a favour and treat yourself to this book . . . Touching and heartwarming' Karen, Books and Me***** 'A novel that just felt like a literary warm hug. The world needs more kindness especially just now, and this is the perfect book' Netgalley reviewer***** 'Reminded me of Rosamund Pilcher's novels . . . I can't recommend it enough' Netgalley reviewer***** 'At the top of my book buying gift list for friends & family . . . Loved it!' Amazon reviewerStep 1. Help the lonely baker start againStep 2. Find the true calling of the village shop ownerStep 3. Call a truce on a decades-old feudStep 4. Forgive me . . . ?The locals of the Cornish village of Polperran are grieving the sudden loss of Bea Kimbrel, a cornerstone of their small community.Now her reclusive, estranged daughter Alice has turned up, keen to tie up Bea's affairs and move on. But Alice receives a strange bequest from Bea - a collection of unfinished tasks to help out those in Polperran most in need.As each little act brings her closer to understanding her mother, it also begins to offer Alice the courage to open her clamped-shut heart. Perhaps Bea's project will finally unlock the powerful secrets both women have been keeping . . . THE KINDNESS PROJECT will draw you deep into the lives of two compelling women who should never have missed their chance to say goodbye. It will break your heart - and piece it back together again . . .Ruin: A Novel of Flyfishing in Bankruptcy
By Leigh Seippel. 2022
Ruin is a thoroughly engrossing novel about a young couple&’s struggle back from financial catastrophe that so many of us dread. Having…
fled their urban life, they begin to build a new life together in a rural setting, far from former friends and colleagues—only to have it fall apart all over again in ways that could never be predicted.Frank Campbell, a thirty-something former founding owner of a high-flying New York City-based hedge fund, has gone bankrupt, losing not only all his own money but the entire inherited fortune of his artist wife, Francy. The couple take refuge in an abandoned Hudson Valley farm shared with a resident herd of congenial goats. Frank is deeply shaken by the life-changing loss that has so thoroughly ruined their life together. Frank tries to build a new microbrewery business on a shoestring but is haunted by the memory of passages from literature he revered as an undergraduate at Yale before jumping into finance. For Francy, her altered circumstances, after a lifetime of privilege, have galvanized her work as an artist and she distances herself from her struggling husband. In the midst of it all, Frank takes up fly fishing on the nearby river, aspiring to join the local fishing club. Tragedy ensues during a fishing contest, further framing Frank as a &“loser loner&” in life. Only when he turns to fly fishing in earnest, traveling the world in search of the ever more perfect and elusive trout (and one memorable carp), does he find his way forward in &“the yowling madness&” of the world.Golf in the Kingdom (Compass Ser.)
By Michael Murphy. 1997
The bestselling classic novel about an American traveler's spiritual journey into the world of golf When Michael Murphy first meets…
golf pro Shivas Irons on one of the most beautiful courses in Scotland, he doesn't know that his life--and his golf game--will change forever. But with the first swing of the Scotsman's club Murphy realizes he is in for a most extraordinary day. By turns comic, philosophical, mythic, and autobiographical, this tale traces the arc of twenty-four hours--from a round of golf on the Links of Burningbrush to a night fueled by whiskey, wisdom, and wandering. This story delves into the transformative power of golf and reveals a unique and unforgettable approach to the game.Wide Eyed
By Dennis Cooper, Trinie Dalton. 2005
"Trinie Dalton's voice is so charming in these stories and they fly right by, so it takes a little time…
to realize how deftly she is talking about death and sex and fear and love and fur and slumber parties, how lightly she touches upon heaviness, making an imprint so gentle you don't know it's there until later, when the story floats back up in your memory, light as a butterfly or a blood-oil lilypad in the bath." --Aimee Bender"Trinie Dalton is as radically original a young writer as I've ever come across: a post-punk, post-apocalyptic, post-everything sensibility, casting spells of willed innocence against the powers of darkness she knows terrifyingly well." --David Gates"These charming stories vibrate with innocence and awe. Trinie Dalton is an effortless purveyor of wonder, strangeness, and love. She is a writer of high spirits and unguarded vision, and this debut collection is an absolute pleasure to read." --Ben Marcus"In Wide Eyed, a wonderfully eccentric and vibrant collection, Trinie Dalton showcases her ability to put a fresh spin on the world, leading the reader into places never explored--sometimes dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish, always riveting. Her vision is wholly unique and memorable." --Jill McCorkleIn Trinie Dalton's tweaked vision of reality, psychic communications between herself and Mick Jagger, The Flaming Lips, Marc Bolan, Lou Reed, and Pavement are daily occurrences. Animals also populate this book; beavers, hamsters, salamanders, black widows, owls, llamas, bats, and many more are characters who befriend the narrator. This collection of stories is told by a woman compelled to divulge her secrets, fantasies, and obsessions with native Californian animals, glam rock icons, and horror movies, among other things. With a setting rooted in urban Los Angeles but colored by mythic tales of beauty borrowed from medieval times, Shakespeare, and Grimm's fairy tales, Wide Eyed makes the difficulties of surviving in a contemporary American city more palatable by showing the reader that magic and escape is always possible.Stories include, "Hummingbird Moonshine," in which the narrator's frustrated hunt for authentic religion in botanicas and science books culminates in a spiritual connection made with a hummingbird. In "Oceanic," she resolves to marry a manatee after a drunken pre-party for her best friend's wedding. In "Tiles," four vignettes about bloody accidents in tiled bathrooms intermingle with scenes from Dalton's favorite scary movies.Featuring oddball prose in the traditions of Dalton's literary heroes--Denton Welch, Robert Walser, and Jane Bowles--these stories have a dreamy, imaginative quality that reveal a peculiar state of mental ecstasy. To be inside the mind of Trinie Dalton is to be escorted into bliss.Under the Wave at Waimea
By Paul Theroux. 2021
From legendary writer Paul Theroux comes an atmospheric novel following a big-wave surfer as he confronts aging, privilege, mortality, and…
whose lives we choose to remember. Now in his sixties, big-wave surfer Joe Sharkey has passed his prime and is losing his “stoke.” The younger surfers around the breaks on the north shore of Oahu still idolize the Shark, but his sponsors are looking elsewhere. One night, while driving home from a bar after one too many, Joe accidentally kills a stranger near Waimea, a tragedy that sends his life out of control. As the repercussions of the accident spiral ever wider, Joe's devoted girlfriend, Olive, throws herself into uncovering the dead man’s identity and helping Joe find vitality and refuge in the waves again. Set in the lush, gritty underside of an island paradise readers rarely see, UNDER THE WAVE AT WAIMEA offers a dramatic, affecting commentary on privilege, mortality, and the lives we choose to remember. It is a masterstroke b y one of the greatest writers of our time.The Outsiders: Adolescent Tenderness and Staying Gold (Cinema and Youth Cultures)
By Ann M. Ciasullo. 2023
This volume traces the unique trajectory of The Outsiders, from beloved book to beloved movie. Based on S.E. Hinton’s landmark…
novel, Coppola’s film adaptation tells the story of the Greasers, a gang of working-class boys yearning for security, love, and acceptance in a world ruled by their rival gang, the rich Socs. The Outsiders: Adolescent Tenderness and Staying Gold explores the cultural impact of Hinton’s book, the process by which Coppola made the film, the film’s melodramatic components, the marketing of the movie to a young female audience, and the nostalgia industry that has emerged around it in recent decades, thereby illuminating how The Outsiders stands apart from other teen films of the 1980s. In its depiction of the emotional rather than sexual lives of young men on film and its recognition of the desires of teen girls as an audience, The Outsiders distinguishes itself from the standard teen fare of the era. With seriousness and sincerity, Coppola’s film captures the essence of the oft-repeated, timeless message of the story: ‘Stay gold.’ This volume engages with a wide range of disciplinary approaches—film studies, gender studies, and literary and cultural studies—in order to distinguish The Outsiders as the significant contribution to youth culture that it was in the early 1980s and continues to be in the twenty-first century. The book fills a gap in existing scholarship on youth culture and is ideal for scholars, students, and teachers in youth cultures, young adult literature, film studies, cultural studies, and gender studies.