The Orchard Street Press is very pleased to announce the release of S O S: 1962 The new novel by award-winning poet and author John P. (Jack) Kristofco of Highland Heights, OH.
It is the spring of 1962, and the world stands on the threshold of its own ‘coming of age.’ A Cleveland suburb is preparing for the Sabin Oral Sundays (SOS) polio vaccine campaign when a local high school girl suddenly goes missing. The police are certain that she “must have known her abductor,” and they have suspects. The tight-knit community holds its breath, at least at first, then reacts to the awful news.
Praise for SOS 1962
“This engaging and cinematic narrative paints a vivid picture of a time in American history before the assassination of JFK—an era of relative trust and innocence, where few questioned the practice of swallowing live polio vaccines on Sabin Oral Sundays. An accomplished poet, Kristofco gives us characters that live and breathe. In the story, the sudden and tragic death of Marilyn Monroe parallels the disappearance of the beautiful young girl, along with the collective guilt. The psychology of the times in SOS 1962 is as enthralling as the question of who, out of many possibilities, committed the crime.”
Lew Forester (Arvada, CO), author of The Rooms Between and Dialogues With Light
“SOS 1962 includes, in vivid detail, the characters, issues, and trappings of a unique time and place: a country finding and redefining itself in the days of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, and the push toward integration. It is the story of Sarah Monroe, a teenage beauty, who goes missing and how her disappearance affects Alex, our central character, his family, friends, and the community… . Whether you want to learn something of the 50’s and 60’s or want to re-examine what those times were like living them, read this book. And, if you want to better understand how all the apparently small things happening every day over everyday lives truly amount to something after all, how the millions of seemingly insignificant actions of people who won’t necessarily be remembered for anything special years later, but who filled all the two and three bedroom brick ranchers in hundreds of small towns and suburbs across America did in fact matter—I say again—read this book.”
Bob Wickless (Reidsville, NC), author of Almost Happy, The Secret Care the World Takes, and Energy and Stillness
“As I read S O S: 1962, I kept thinking of Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.”
Eric Greinke (Rockford MI), poet, author, and editor
S O S: 1962 is available for $18 (both online and via the mail) from:
The Orchard Street Press
P.O. Box 280
Gates Mills, OH 44040
330-264-7733 (O)
330-464-2598 (C)
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Orchpress.com (web)