"My novel," Sheldon Neuringer writes, "is called Candy Stores I Have Known. It is a coming-of-age story about a youth who grows up in Brooklyn, NY during the 1940's and 1950's."
Ted Meyers grows up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn during the 1940's and 1950's. He enjoys many an hour in neighborhood candy stores with his friends, sipping egg creams, talking about his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, and peeking into comic books and girlie magazines. These and other happy memories make up the Brooklyn of his sweet dreams.
In high school Ted becomes a journalist, starting out as a reporter for the school newspaper. At Brooklyn College he has a fulfilling career as a reporter and editor of the campus newspaper, known as The Kingsman. While he becomes successful as a journalist, Ted grows increasingly frustrated by his lack of success in finding a girlfriend. By the time he's a senior at Brooklyn, we find him bitterly lamenting his fate of never having had a serious relationship with a female. In the middle of his senior year, he has a chance meeting with a bright and attractive co-ed in a candy store and strikes up a wonderful relationship with her. Following graduation, he hooks up with another smart and good-looking woman after his affair with his first girlfriend has cooled.
With the tensions of the Cold War, the burgeoning civil rights movement, and the 1960 presidential election serving as backdrops, Ted finds much of interest to write about in his first job with a Brooklyn newspaper. In the meantime, his love life is becoming more complicated. Feeling pressure to get married, Ted has to decide between the two appealing girlfriends with whom he's had such pleasurable relationships. In the end, he resolves his dilemma in a poignant encounter with one of the women in an Italian restaurant during what Ted describes as a “night to remember.”
About the Author
SHELDON NEURINGER is a native of Brooklyn, New York and is a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1958. He spent his working career as a college professor and has published books in the field of American history. Candy Stores I Have Known is his first novel. He currently lives with his wife Rochelle in Asheville, North Carolina.
