Palmetto Publishing Releases James H. Whittaker's Coming-of-Age Novel Set in 1950s Italian-American Neighborhood

The Boy with The Love Kiss, a nostalgic debut novel exploring youthful longing and imagination in mid-century urban America, is now available from Palmetto Publishing.

The story opens in 1959 on a row home street alive with the rituals of a tight-knit community: half ball tournaments, bocce games, gravy sandwiches after Sunday church, and the rattle of a huckster's truck. At the center is a bashful young dreamer who spends his days playing stickball, racing muscle cars at the local dragway, and nursing one extraordinary fantasy. While his friends brag about schoolyard conquests, he retreats into a vivid inner world, captivated by the notion that every girl he kisses might fall hopelessly in love with him.