Wishin' and Hopin': A Novel by Wally Lamb

Wishin' and Hopin': A Novel by Wally Lamb

"This book is a bonbon for any baby boomer. . . . Lamb gets Felix's voice just right, and he does a spot-on job of evoking the special joys and trials of parochial school in the '60's...Put a bow on this book and warm somebody's heart." -- St. Petersburg Times

Wally Lamb, the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much Is True, and She's Come Undone, delivers a holiday treat with Wishin' and Hopin'--an unforgettable novella that captures the warmth and joy of the holiday season.

It's 1964. LBJ and Lady Bird are in the White House, Meet the Beatles is on everyone's turntable, and ten-year-old Felix Funicello (distant cousin of the iconic Annette!) is doing his best to navigate fifth grade--easier said than done when scary movies still give you nightmares and you bear a striking resemblance to a certain adorable cartoon boy. But there are several things young Felix can depend on: the birds and bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he's never going to forget.

Poignant and hilarious, in a vein similar to Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story and David Sedaris's The Santaland Diaries, Lamb's Christmas tale focuses on a feisty parochial school fifth grader named Felix Funicello--a distant cousin of the iconic Annette!

She's Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed, Wishin' and Hoping, and We Are Water are among Wally Lamb's five New York Times bestselling novels. She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, his first two works of fiction, were both #1 New York Times bestsellers and Oprah's Book Club choices. Couldn't Keep It to Myself, I'll Fly Away, and You Don't Know Me are three volumes of essays by students in Lamb's writing workshop at York Correctional Prison in Connecticut, where he has volunteered for two decades as a facilitator. He splits his time between Connecticut and New York.