It is May 1988 in Toronto.  The school year is coming to a close. The Victoria Day long weekend heralds the beginning of summer.  In Boston, Wayne Gretzky's dynastic Edmonton Oilers are playing in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Best of all, Bob Dylan is coming to town.  Ben Spektor, 16, attends the concert with his two closest friends, Sammy and  Noah.  Though the year is 1988, they exist as if in a time warp, idolizing the  music and culture of the 1960s.  Outside the concert, Ben sees what looks like a routine exchange: two teenagers buying drugs.  In a way he could never have predicted, the consequences of this drug deal will alter the course of his summer and, quite possibly, the rest of his life.  This one event, barely significant at the time, initiates Ben into love, as well as death, and forces him to confront his conscience, his friends, and his family.  Over the span of one week, seemingly disparate forces converge on him -- the search for a missing boy, his romance with the boy's sister, the Stanley Cup finals, the fortunes of his own hockey team, and a peculiar Vietnam re-enactment with Victoria Day firecrackers.  These events conspire to displace the certainty of childhood with the disorientation of adulthood.

David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973, and immigrated to Toronto with his parents in 1980. He earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from McGill University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. David’s writing has appeared in magazines such as Harper’s, The New Yorker and Zoetrope All-Story, and has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, 2005 & 2006. His story collection, Natasha and Other Stories, was a New York Times Notable Book and was translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2003, David wrote, directed and edited THE GENUINE ARTICLE: THE FIRST TRIAL, a feature length documentary. Previously he directed 2 short films THE DIAMOND NOSE and L.A. MOHEL. He is currently finishing work on his first novel.

David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973, and immigrated to Toronto with his parents in 1980. He earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from McGill University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. David’s writing has appeared in magazines such as Harper’s, The New Yorker and Zoetrope All-Story, and has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, 2005 & 2006. His story collection, Natasha and Other Stories, was a New York Times Notable Book and was translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2003, David wrote, directed and edited THE GENUINE ARTICLE: THE FIRST TRIAL, a feature length documentary. Previously he directed 2 short films THE DIAMOND NOSE and L.A. MOHEL. He is currently finishing work on his first novel.