The Youth & Young Loves of Oliver Wade

What makes us who we are? Is it life's big milestones that propel us from childhood to adulthood? Or are we made of all the little memories that have a way of standing in for so much more? A friend's itchy chin might be how you remember him. A pair of worn corduroys might be what you remember of your first love. A green-eyed boy on a subway platform might be how you remember a breakthrough. A coffee cup in a blizzard might be how you remember your best friend. The sound of a dial-up modem connecting. The wet stems of lily pads in your dad's hands. A spiral of hairs on a cheek. The outline of keys in a pocket. Blue paint under fingernails. Fireworks on a summer night. These details are like pulses, like heartbeat spikes on the cardiac line of memory. In the twelve stories in THE YOUTH & YOUNG LOVES OF OLIVER WADE, Ben Monopoli shows us these pulses in the life of our narrator Ollie as he grows from age thirteen to twenty-eight. Pulses that define who Ollie is, and ultimately who he'll become. A stand-alone companion to THE PAINTING OF PORCUPINE CITY and THE CRANBERRY HUSH.