Now I’m Here by Jim Provenzano

Description

Jim Provenzano’s latest novel, Now I’m Here, is set in the the small town of Serene, Ohio, in the 1970s and ’80s. Two boys from different families—Joshua, with his stable middle-class home in town, and David, raised by his alcoholic and abusive father on their isolated farm—discover, then lose, then find each other again. Thirty years later, as the town’s history is slowly erased by fading memories and encroaching suburbia, their childhood friend, Eric Gottlund, tells the tale of their quiet heroism with poignancy and a sharp eye for detail. Fighting religious intolerance, “rehabilitation therapy,” the lure of fame, and the heartbreak of AIDS, the two boys grow into men before our eyes. Through their love of each other and of rock’n’roll—the English rock band Queen in particular—Joshua and David breathe life back into their home town, if only for a while.