Four Months in Brighton Park

Growing-up in the Sixties

by Larry Ehrhorn.

Know More
Set in a working class neighborhood on Chicago’s southwest side in 1965, “Four Months in Brighton Park” focuses on Kelly Elliott, the kid with two first names. Kelly is a cross between Holden Caulfield and Walter Mitty, rarely facing reality until one day when he is forced to confront the consequences of his actions, when he impulsively makes an obscene gesture at Joe Swedarsky, the school jock and bully. That initial conflict starts a cascade of humorous and affecting dominoes that change his life.

Being raised by his single, hard-working mother, Kelly stumbles through misadventures — dealing with his mother’s tyrannical pilot boyfriend, peer pressure, male curiosities, teachers, and friendships. Besides Ma, his guides through this journey include Little Joey, the legless owner of a local deli; best friend Jerry Hogan, Mary Harker, a troubled, mature woman; and Linda Martinsen, the quiet girl who found something likable in Kelly.

The four month journey taken by Kelly provides insight, change, humor and empathy, elements of which all people are familiar.

A Word from the Author

Four Months in Brighton Park tells the story of most average high school graduates’ lives during those taxing years — peer pressure, first dates and beyond, post-graduation plans, etc. This is not a drug and /or gang-related book. As a high school English teacher for 33 years, I realized that every one of my 3,000 students had a story, so I combined several, and my own, to write the book, often during class time with many subjects sitting before me. If you are the average
high school graduate, you are bound to see people you know in the book, or maybe even yourself.

(Larry Ehrhorn, September 2018)

Get It