The Jeeptown Sock Hop

The story of four teens who seek to bridge the racial and class gaps that splinter their gritty 1950s industrial town. It is narrated by altar boy Charlie, who lives in a sea of chaos marked by an alcoholic father, a brother at war in Korea, a town fractured by a violent strike at his father's workplace, and a trusted adult who sexually abuses him. In this sea of chaos, his one island of tenderness is a black gospel singer, Clarice, with whom he develops a deep attachment. After they are spotted sharing a kiss, Charlie gets punched out by one of her other admirers and she gets a beating from her father. To create a reason for being together, they start a dance band and organize a Sock Hop that will bring the town together. Can they pull it off? "Spellbinding," said KMSU radio host Karen Wright.

I grew up in a city very much like Jeeptown, then served two years in the Army. Thanks to the GI Bill, I attended college and afterwards had the good fortune to serve a tour of duty as Cultural Affairs Officer in the U. S. Embassy in Brazil. I became fluent in the language, fell in love with the culture, and to this day am involved with Brazilian friends. Little bits of that experience work their way smoothly into both of my novels. In The Patron Saint of Desperate Situations, the heroine Sonia is a single mom immigrant from Brazil, who, for reasons I don’t understand, is liked better by female reviewers of the novel than by male reviewers. In Jeeptown, one of the most intriguing minor characters is Charlie’s teacher, a nun who hails from Cape Verde and speaks English with a Portuguese accent. After three years in Rio, I returned to grad school and then became a professor of Political Science at a small liberal arts college. Currently at work on a third novel, I live happily with my wife Sandy in Falcon Heights, MN. Website: www.johnjharrigan.com/John_Harrigan/Home.html