kristen carson

Welcome to the world of the Runyons and the Feldsteds, two Mormon families in 1970s
Maryland. Far from their Western American roots, they cling to each other like exiles clutching a
precious box of topsoil from the old country.

In The Boxford Stories you will meet Ada Runyon who always turns to Ruthalin Feldsted when
she needs an ear—sharing her deepest confidences, her everyday musings, and her bits of
horrified gossip. Yet Ada dies inside whenever Ruthalin’s country-cousin manners poke out in
public.

Latham Runyon, a history professor, and Erval Feldsted, a hospital engineer, bond every Sunday
night over gooey desserts and vigorous religious discussion, a game their children call Stump the
Rabbi. Underneath their balding heads and graying temples, each man desperately seeks a sign
that God would choose him as a buddy.

The Feldsted and Runyon children, running breathlessly through each other’s houses and
backyards, have long considered each other substitute cousins. However, Ginni Runyon plots to
change herself from the girl next door to the girl Marc Feldsted can’t live without.

And when Boxford’s Mormons mix with the rest of the town, everybody could use a field guide
to the other species.

Laugh, cry, and shake your head with the Runyons and Feldsteds as they make their way through
the decade that brought us leisure suits and urban decay.