How to Find Your Way in the Dark: The powerful and epic coming-of-age story from the author of Norwegian By Night

Description

A young boy's quest to avenge the death of his father leads to a coming of age story like no other. This is a wonderful portrait of America between the wars, in all her confidence and innocence, just like Sheldon himself. It's 1936, war is brewing, tempers are running high, and by his thirteenth birthday, Sheldon Horowitz has been orphaned - twice. While a terrible accident took his mother, Sheldon is convinced that his father was murdered. But no-one else thinks so, least of all the police. Determined to track down the culprit, and leaving behind his only friend Lenny, Sheldon moves to Hartford, Connecticut to live with his uncle. He is told to keep his head down and forget the past. But that just isn't his style. Fired up by his politically-minded cousin Abe (and quite possibly in love with other cousin Mirabelle), he sets out on a quest to discover the truth that will take him from industrial Hartford to a ritzy hotel in the Catskills, back to his childhood home and finally on to New York. Sheldon quickly discovers that it's a jungle out there, and to survive, he will have to learn to make his own luck. Fortunately, that's one thing he's very good at...

Derek B. Miller is an American novelist, who worked in international affairs before turning to writing full-time. He is the author of five previous novels, all highly acclaimed- Norwegian by Night, The Girl in Green, American by Day, Radio Life and Quiet Time (an Audible Original). His work has been shortlisted for many awards, with Norwegian by Night winning the CWA John Creasey Dagger award for best first crime novel, an eDunnit Award and the Goldsboro Last Laugh Award. How to Find Your Way in the Dark was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and a New York Times Best Mystery of 2021. Miller is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (BA), Georgetown (MA) and he earned his Ph.D. in international relations from The Graduate Institute in Geneva. He is currently connected to numerous peace and security research and policy centres in North America, Europe and Africa, and previously worked at the United Nations for over a decade. He has lived abroad for over 25 years in Israel, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, Norway and Spain.

[The] character portraits are indelible, often heartbreaking ... at times this moved me to tears * The New York Times *