Hard City

The searing novel of a brutal boyhood in 1940s Chicago—and a young man walking the knife's edge between a life of crime and a brighter future.

The son of a single mother addicted to heroin, Richie grows up in poverty and hardship. His adolescence is a constant battle between hope—in the form of a kind boxing coach, a job in a bowling alley where he can sneak a nap, and a determination to track down his disreputable father—and brutality. Desperately lonely, Richie must contend with the crimin...