Introduction

Four teenage boys, coming of age and dreaming of their future, even as that future seemed to be slipping through their young fingers. It wasn’t their fault they were born into a town, into a way of life, that was dying. They did what they were supposed to do: followed the rules, studied hard, played hard. But for them, unlike their fathers and grandfathers, there was no promise of a fat salary at the mill, no promise of a house and a yard and a middle class life. Not in Hopeton Mills, Pennsylvania, anyway. Not when the fabric of so much of America was fraying in the late 1970’s and 80’s. They had but one option, just like kids in factory towns and farm towns coast to coast—getting the hell out. As their hero from an equally bleak Jersey shore town put it in the title to his iconic anthem, these four sons of Hopeton Mills were born to run. Summer of Hope, Summer of Dreams is a story of the follies and dreams of youth, of enduring loyalty and friendship, of the hope and faith of adulthood, and of the bonds forged from songs that inspired a generation.

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Excerpt

Gina and Cunny couldn’t have been more mismatched as a couple. He was tall and smooth, she was petite and perky. She was first generation Italian-American, he was third generation American mutt. Her family embraced their roots, while his family’s origins were unknown and unspoken. No one in his family cared about their genealogy, which was not surprising in regard to his father, who barely cared that he had a family. His mother’s apathy was more a result of the mental beating she took on a daily basis from her callous husband. Whatever she knew, she had kept to herself.

Gina’s family was loud and boisterous and loving. Cunny’s was loud—usually owing to the fact that Paddy was drunk, but love had left the building long ago. She was Roman Catholic, he was…nothing. So it was ironic that Paddy didn’t approve of Gina because she was Catholic. Gina was initially troubled by Paddy’s overt dislike of her, but as she spent more time with Cunny’s family, she cared less what his father thought or said or did. She grew to learn that his antagonism toward her was rooted in nothing more than unabashed bigotry. She found him to be a hollow, selfish man, a simpleton, devoid of the ability to love. But, he was still her husband’s father, and even if their relationship was strained, to say the least, she respected it.

Gina had often wondered how Cunny turned out the way he did—kind and thoughtful and loving. Although she never got the chance to really know his mother before she died, Gina felt that Cunny had a lot of her inside of him. He was truly a good man, and she felt lucky to have found him, and that he had wanted her. And she knew that among the girls at State she had been envied for winning the prize of his heart.

He was a driven man and she had been swept along for the ride, both in college and after. Somehow, he knew what he wanted in life, even back then when she, as well as most of their friends, were still content going to Thursday night parties and Saturday tailgates. He had a seriousness about him, a purposefulness, which is how they ended up moving to Hopeton Mills.

Cunny saw something in Hopeton Mills that few others at that time could see: opportunity. Gina likened returning to Hopeton Mills to swimming against the flow of the current, and opposite a great migration. The young people were mostly gone by the time Gina and Cunny moved back, but it wasn’t the younger generation that caught Cunny’s imagination. It was the older people. Those that were on the cusp of retirement. Those that had no time left, nor the inclination, to start over somewhere else. They were stuck. A captive audience.

While others lamented the aging population, and the older skew to the population, Cunny saw his future. First, they would need prescriptions. Then, as their bodies began to fail, they would need walkers and oxygen tanks and wheelchairs. Finally, they would need someone to take care of them. He had thought it all through, down to a timeline for implementation. The only thing holding Cunny back was money. As in, he had none.

Which is where Hank Conwell came into the picture. The Conwell family had operated a pharmacy in Hopeton Mills for as long as anyone in town could remember, starting with a tiny apothecary cart that Hank’s father wheeled from one mill gate to the other to catch workers either going to or coming from work. Eventually, that little cart generated enough money for a down payment on a building, and Conwell’s Pharmacy opened shortly after on the corner of Fifth and Elm.

It was a small store, but it carried a little bit of everything. It was the place people went not only to fill prescriptions, but also to buy Valentines cards and Band-Aids and soap. Adults reminisced about sitting at Conwell’s soda counter after school and drinking thick milkshakes and cherry Cokes and buying five pretzel sticks for a penny. Conwell’s was a local institution that had seen its heyday, and like everything else in town appeared to be at the end of its run.

Hank Conwell was a widower whose daughters had all left Hopeton Mills for college and never returned, none being interested in perpetuating the family business. Everyone thought that it would only be a matter of time before Hank put the key in the door one last time and walked away, marking a familiar end to another of Hopeton Mills’ former success stories.

Or so it seemed, until Cunny went to Hank and made him a proposition: Cunny would buy the business on installments and would take over the store’s daily operations, and Hank would stay on as pharmacist and mentor for as long as he wanted to continue working. Cunny didn’t have any money to put down and didn’t know the pharmacy business, but he was young and had energy and drive, and more importantly, the deal offered two things that Hank wanted for his family and for himself—a legacy and freedom. A legacy for the Conwell family and their place in Hopeton Mills’ history, and the freedom for Hank to visit with his grandchildren and to travel the world.

Hank had planned on returning to Hopeton Mills to work with his father after college, but first, he was going to travel and see the world. He had dreamed of seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Coliseum and the Parthenon, but when his father died young, he was forced to return to Hopeton Mills after he graduated to run the pharmacy. All of his plans to see the world were dashed, ala George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. So, when Cunny came into the store that day and laid out his plan, Hank didn’t need convincing. He was smitten with the idea. To Hank, Cunny’s offer was heaven-sent, and didn’t need negotiating or fine-tuning or to be put into writing. They sealed their agreement with a handshake right then and there, and neither ever regretted it.

So began Cunny’s business education. Hank taught him all of the ins and outs of running the pharmacy, all of the little secrets that his father had taught him and those that he had learned on his own over the years, and Cunny soaked it all in. Eventually, Cunny paid off Hank, and then built two more locations, one on the outskirts of town, out on County Road with all of the other new retail development, and another near the hospital. Then he built a home health supply store, and after that an assisted living facility. And out of a sense of loyalty and gratitude to Hank for giving him his chance, each of his businesses carried the Conwell family name.

Cunny had seen it all in his mind before one dollar was paid, before one brick was laid. He started everything with an idea, and more importantly, blind ambition. And he made it all happen. He made a success of himself with a vision and by hard work. He was now the town’s mogul, the person to whom others went for business advice, or to ask to invest.

But despite all of the success and what came with it, as well as through the stress of the long hours, early mornings, late nights and weekends that he had to devote to the business, Cunny had stayed the same. To Gina he was the same person that she met all those years ago. The same bright-eyed boy who had swept her off her feet. Still optimistic and romantic and playful. He had become an astute businessman, but more importantly to Gina, he was a good husband, and father, which meant more to her than the money he earned or the social status he attained, and which was all she ever wanted him to become. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

1. What did you enjoy (or not enjoy) about the book?

2. Were the characters relatable/authentic to you?

3. Did you find the ending satisfying--why or why not?

4. Can you relate to this book, and if so, in what way?

5. Are you a Bruce Springsteen fan, and if so, did that thread throughout the book enhance your appreciation of the book? If not, did it detract from the book?

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