by Bill Hillmann (Author)

Chicago's western suburbs. Young Joe Walsh is making a go of it at a new school, still haunted by his rough-and-tumble city upbringing. He's got some great opportunities-a summer seminar at one of the world's top physics laboratories, a hard-hitting Catholic clergyman and boxing instructor who thinks he's got talent in the ring, and a beautiful girlfriend who's giving him some much-needed love and support. But the challenges of Chicago have followed him to its outskirts; his sister's struggling to recover after being shot by one of his former friends, his mom's unvarnished ways are rubbing their wealthy neighbors the wrong way, and his brother's fresh out of prison and falling into old habits. Like many young men before him, Joe's taking out his frustrations in the boxing ring, and dreaming of a triumphant career--but will that, too, become a prison?

Author Biography

Dr. Bill Hillmann is a full-time professor of English and Communications at East-West University in Chicago. He is the author of four books--the novel The Old Neighborhood, and The Burbs, and the memoirs Mozos and The Pueblos--and is writing the sequel to The Burbs. His writing has appeared at CNN, NPR, and VICE, and in the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Mail, the Toronto Star, and various others. He created the National College Story Slam competition, where students from across the country compete telling five-minute personal stories. Hillmann is a former Chicago Golden Gloves boxing champion and union construction laborer, and is married to Paula Andion Zabalza.

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