About the Book
What is life like when the biggest thing that will ever happen to you happens at age 17?
A small town high school basketball team wins the Pennsylvania state championship with an improbable last second three point shot. The Cortlandt Cavaliers celebrate their unlikely victory, but good fortune changes the boys’ worlds in unpredictable ways. This fast-paced but poignant story revisits the characters 10 and 20 years later as the ramifications of their youthful success play out over the course of their lives, forever linking them and the people around them to this little town that has its ways of not quite letting you go.
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Reader Reviews
“The Cortlandt Boys takes the reader on a journey through the lives of five young men who already know that their best days are behind them. When their glory becomes a burden and begins to affect the next generation, characters and readers alike experience both the power of self-determination and the reality that none of us are as free to blaze our own trails as we would like. Thought-provoking, realistic, and moving, The Cortlandt Boys combines the entertainment quotient of a beach read with the depth of a literary classic.”
— Holly M., Huntington, Vermont
“I enjoyed The Cortlandt Boys so much, I made it my Book Club’s choice and I read it a second time. Good pacing, great characters and an overall wonderful escape.”
—Wendy R., Princeton, New Jersey
“In 1994, the Cortlandt Cavaliers won the Pennsylvania state boys basketball championship on a last second three point shot. It was a thrilling moment for the small town in the northeastern part of the state. It not only was a watershed moment for the community, it had a profound effect on the lives of the players and others. How this affected the future of those young people is the story told in this terrific novel by Laura Vanderkam ….The writing style is crisp and easy to follow. The characters are well-developed and have a certain personality that the reader will easily recognize and have some type of emotional reaction. The story will leave the reader running through the entire gamut of feelings … A terrific read that anyone would enjoy.”
—L. Smith
“Nostalgia, romance and mystery are three genres that work well separately, and work well in couples, but jamming them together, you think it wouldn’t work. But wow does it. It was such a page turner. … All in all a very intriguing read and I would recommend it.”
—The Book Goddess