"SUMMER OF '42 is a charming and tender novel...The overall effect is
one of high hilarity. Raucher is a comic-artist who is able to convey
the fears and joys...of the boy and at the same time give older readers
a wrench in the heart. " --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A classic coming-of-age story and international bestseller.
Captivating and evocative, Herman Raucher's semi-autobiographical tale
has been made into a record-breaking Academy Award nominated hit movie,
adapted for the stage, and enchanted readers for generations.
In the summer of 1942, Hermie is fifteen. He is wildly obsessed with
sex, and passionately in love with an "older woman" of twenty-two, whose
husband is overseas and at war. Ambling through Nantucket Island with
his friends, Hermie's indelible narration chronicles his frantic efforts
to become a man, especially one worthy of the lovely Dorothy, as well as
his glorious and heartbreaking initiation into sex.