The story of a mass shooting and an old summer love

Winner of the Seven Hills Review Novel Excerpt Contest.

Summer of ’85 is part coming-of-age story, part mid-life crisis story, and a timely tale for our era.

In the summer of 1985 at the Jersey Shore, Cara Cassaday was Dan Fehr’s first love. Since then, Dan has endured a series of mismatched relationships and unfulfilled dreams. Now his second marriage is in trouble and he’s stuck writing for a mid-size newspaper in a small city. When he learns that Cara is among the victims of a gun massacre in a Philly hoagie shop, it triggers a chain of emotionally charged reactions as he confronts the realization of a lost love and a life lost—Cara was The One.

This is an intimate look at the long arm of tragedy, unfulfilled promise, and the tensions of our times.

Richard Fellinger