Wishin' and Hopin'
A Novel
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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. 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!
In Wally Lamb’s pitch perfect new novel,
it is 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.
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Author Extras
Reading Guides:
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Critical Praise for
Wishin' and Hopin'
“In the hands of Wally Lamb, what emerges isn’t an apology but a celebration of life...Felix makes a hilarious guide through a story that whirs right along.”
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Washington Post
“Lamb’s rich panoply of details...render this novel first-rate escapism just begging for a comforter and a cup of tea.”
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Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Warmly, sweetly retro”
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Kansas City Star
“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”
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St. Petersburg Times
“Lamb’s vividly detailed portrait of the 1960’s and the inner workings of a Catholic schoolboy’s mind puts his first Christmas book on par with his previous three novels.”
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Miami Herald
“Lamb...proves he can be short, sweet and funny”
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USA Today
“Wishin’ and Hopin’ from Wally Lamb reminds us of what innocence was like.”
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Body and Soul
“Both heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny…a cast of characters that are both uproarious and unforgettable…a poignant reminder that family and friends are the greatest gift of all.”
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Hartford Books Examiner
We might as well call Wally Lamb the man with the golden pen...[Wishin’ and Hopin’] will leave you laughing and thinking nostalgically about your own school days and holidays past”
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BookPage
“Lamb is a very good writer, and Wishin’ and Hopin’ is a charming read with a genuinely funny ending.”
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Houston Chronicle
“Humorous and heartwarming…clever and well-written…A fun trip down memory lane from a skilled writer. The stocking stuffer might just become a cherished possession.”
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Columbus Dispatch
“Charming…. Full of pop-culture references of the day…this will have broad appeal.”
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Library Journal
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The Hour I First Believed
Wally Lamb's two previous novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True , struck a chord with readers. They responded to the intensely introspective nature of the books, and to their lively narrative styles and biting humor. One critic called Wally Lamb a "modern-day Dostoyevsky," whose...
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I'll Fly Away
For several years, Wally Lamb, the author of two of the most beloved novels of our time, has run a writing workshop at the York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's only maximum-security prison for women. Writing, Lamb discovered, was a way for these women to face their fears and failures and...
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