The Bookie’s Son is the whip-smart, hilarious story of the misadventures of young Ricky Davis, who’s forced to take over his parents’ gambling business to save his family.

The year is 1960 and the place is the Bronx. All twelve-year-old Ricky Davis wants to do is play stickball with his friends and flirt with the building super’s daughter. But when his father crosses gangster Nathan Glucksman and goes into hiding, Ricky has to take over his father’s bookie business and figure out a way to pay back his debt—before the gangsters make good on their threats. Meanwhile, Ricky’s mother, Pearl, a fading beauty of failed dreams, plots to raise the money by embezzling funds from one of her boss’s clients: Elizabeth Taylor.

Fast-paced, engrossing and full of heart, The Bookie’s Son paints the picture of a family forced to decide just how much they’re willing to sacrifice for each other—and at what cost.

Reviews

“Goldstein’s powerful debut follows the retrospective misadventures of 12-year-old Ricky Davis, the “thin, anemic” son of Pearl, an aging Bronx beauty who once dreamed of silver screen stardom, and Harry, a garment worker with a pernicious gambling habit.”  –Publisher’s Weekly

“Whip-smart, atmospheric and funny, Andrew Goldstein’s THE BOOKIES’ SON will transport and endear you with its tale of a young hustler on the move to save his family.” —Jenna Blum, NY Times best-selling author, Those Who Save Us

“In this rollicking debut, Andrew Goldstein captures the Bronx in 1960 with vivid detail and larger-than-life characters…a menacing and hilarious read.” —Ladette Randolph, Editor-in-chief of Ploughshares and author of A Sandhills Ballad

“You can almost smell and feel the grit of the Bronx in 1960…This debut novel makes for a good summer read.” – Library Journal

About The Author

Andrew Goldstein is in the third act of his adult life. Act I: Husband, writer, tree planter, assistant librarian, organic orange and olive farmer, school bus driver, Zamboni driver, editor, tennis pro, stock broker, power transformer tube winder. Act II: Father, no longer writer, custom builder, youth soccer coach. Act III: Grandfather, table tennis player, writer again, lives in Concord, Massachusetts and enjoys waking up each morning to the birds chirping and the day that awaits him. The Bookie’s Son is his first novel.

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