Wrestling Sturbridge

148 Pages·1996·10.052 MB·English

by  Rich Wallace

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WINNER."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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PRAISE FOR WRESTLING STURBRIDCE:
''Beautifullywritten...a chanceto be insidethe head ofa boyjustas he
becomesa man." -PamConrad,authorofPrairieSongs
Thereareonlya fewcontemporarywriterswho can hitthe markwith
teenageboys and RichWallaceseems likelytojointhatgroup."
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—Chicago Tribune
"Boyswill readthisfirstandtalkaboutitwiththeirfriends. Thenthey'll
talk about itwith theirfathers, and in times ofvulnerabilitywith their
girlfriends. Thentheirfriends,theirfathersandtheirgirlfriendswillread
it. Thisbookwill bearoundfora longtime."
—ChrisCrutcher,authorofIronman
"Excellent...Thestoryiswelltold andverywellwritten."
—
TheNewYorker
"Here's a contender-tough, smart, all the right moves. With his first
novel, Rich Wallace vaults into the first string with Bruce Brooks and
ChrisCrutcher. Thisisacomplex, hard-edgedstorythatboyswillwant
— —
to loveto read." -RobertLipsyte,authorofTheContender
andcolumnistfor TheNewYorkTimes
"Theauthortellsaterrificstory—subtle,funny, cleanlydrawn."
—LosAngeles TimesBookReview
"Wallace limnsthe pleasuresand limitations ofsmall-town culturewith
a surehand....a strong debut." -KirkusReviews
"The story is really exciting, and Ben is just the kind of sweet-but-
determined guyyou wish you knew." Seventeen
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RICH WALLACE
V*'
A Knopf Paperback
Alfred A. Knopf
New York
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AKNOPFPAPERBACKPUBLISHEDWALFREDAKNOPF,INC
©
Textcopyright 1996byRichWallace
©
Coverphotocopyright 1997byMikeVateri/FPGInternational
AllrightsreservedunderInternationalandPan-AmericanCopyrightConventions.Publishedin
theUnitedStatesbyAlfredA.Knopf,Inc,NewYork,andsimultaneouslyinCanadabyRandom
HouseofCanadaLimited,Toronto.DistributedbyRandomHouse,Inc.,NewYork.Originally
publishedinhardcoverasaBorzoiBookbyAlfredA.Knopf,Inc,in1996.
httpy/www.randomhouse.com/
LibraryofCongressCatalogingin-PublicationData
WrestlingSturbridge/byRichWallace.
p. cm.
Summary: Stuckinasmalltownwherenooneeverleavesandrelegatedbyhiswrestling
coachtositonthebenchwhilehisbestfriendbecomesstatechampion,Bendecideshecan't
lethislasthighschoolwrestlingseasonslipbywithoutchallenginghisfriendandthefuture
[1.Wrestling-Fiction.2.Friendship-Fiction.3.Pennsylvania-Fiction.]
I.Title.
PZ7.W15877Wr 1996
[Fic]-dc20 95-20468
ISBN 0-679-87803-3 (trade)
ISBN 0*79-88555-2 (pbk.)
FirstKnopfPaperbackedition: June1997
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10987654321
Formyfather
and mysons