The Boys Of Summer...Summer Of 1869 That Is....

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	• If I Never Get Back: A Novel Darryl Brock Frog Books, 2007 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 55 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Boys Of Summer...Summer Of 1869 That Is....

"If I Never Get Back" by Darryl Brock has something enjoyable for everybody. It's a historical novel with adventure,danger,action,humor,fantasy and romance, but will be especially loved by those who love time travel and baseball(and train enthusiasts as well). You'll go back in time and escape to a time with no electricity,phones, credit cards, TV, radio or cars, but in the just post civil war era of 1869, there was our National Pastime - Baseball.

Sam Fowler does not start out as the most likeable character. He's a drinker,has a bit of an anger management problem, and is brooding over the separation from his beloved little girls due to a messy divorce. On top of that he has just been notified of the death of his own absentee father(no great loss to Sam) but has the dubious job of burying him.
The boozing had led Sam to "milky" periods where things are just not quite in focus. While at the train station on his way back from dealing with his father, he is having one of his episodes and falls into unconsciousness. He awakes on the same platform but things are quite different. He hops the train - some old classic - and finds himself aboard with one of the first pro ball teams - The Cincinnati Red Stockings.

Not knowing at first, if he is hallucinating or just having a bad day, he eventually comes to realize he has somehow gone back in time and forms a relationship with the team. He travels with this extraordinary group of young men and becomes a big part of their world.On his transcontinental travels- using the early RR system, horse and buggys, etc)there is one adventure after another. He falls in love with a woman he feels a deep connection, gets in hot water with some real toughs who are after him throughout, befriends the great Mark Twain, has a spiritual connection with an apparition,and plays baseball 19th century style - a might rougher and faster then today's version of the game. He's even involved in a shoot out in a poker game in a western saloon! While searching for the reason he is there(an enjoying the change of pace quite a bit), he becomes a new man. One we can't help but cheer for as his life is in danger at so many turns.

The book is a page turner. You can't help but become attached to Sam and the boys. Brock puts you right there in the 19th century, with remarkable detail of each city,the trains,food,clothes,dress,etc and through Sam we are living the life of someone who has gone back over a hundred years(this book was published in 1990, so there are even more differences now!).The Civil War plays a small but integral part of the story too. And then there is Baseball - we are treated to a real look at how the game was played, and feel the intensity with which they played.Even then, the game was popular and the players heroes. But think of never seeing them play unless you were fortunate enough to actually be at a game.

Also available in hardcoverIF I NEVER GET BACK. A Novel. check for best deal and availability

I for one was having such a great time, I hoped he would never get back! Baseball, apple pie,old trains, wonderful colorful characters...and a refreshing look at historical America....enjoy!.....Laurie

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Best baseball novel ever

This is a book I've read several times. I'd like to know where Mr. Brock found out so much about Charlie sweazy, Asa Brainard et al, to make these characters come alive the way they do. There were a few political issue editorials Darryl brought into the story. But these surely do not detract from the book. I wish I had Andy Leonard as a brother as well.
You will hate to see the end of this book as it is entertaining(and historically accurate) from first page to last. As I said earlier, it's my favorite baseball book and one of my favorite of any genre.

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one of the best

I first read this in high school. I reread it recently and am happy to say that is still one my top favorite books.

Best Ever

This is one of the greatest baseball novels ever written. If you like baseball,time travel,romance and "rooting for the good guys" this is a book that will never get old. I'm sorry they never made a movie if it. However I doubt Hollywood could do it justice. Superb!!!!!!!!!!

I *** LOVE *** this book!

When I looked up Darryl Brock to see Havana Heat, I was thrilled to see that If I Never Get Back was rated 5 stars by *SO* many people. So I'm adding my own rave.

I read a library copy of this book shortly after it was published. I loved it so much that I immediately bought my own copy and some extras to give away. I even wrote a fan letter to Darryl Brock, who wrote back and included some cartoons & other items that were apropos to the story.

I love the entire book, but want to add special mention about the last page or 2. The ending is unique and charming and absolutely perfect. I can't help but smile whenever I think about it.

The book is like a grown-up fairy tale based on an actual historic era. If this appeals to you, READ THIS BOOK!!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Contemporary reporter Sam Fowler, stuck in a dull job and a failing marriage, abruptly finds himself transported back to the summer of 1869. After a wrenching period of adjustment, he comes to feel rejuvenated by his involvement with the nation's first pro baseball players. He also finds his senses quickening and tastes changing as he faces life-threatening 19th-century challenges on and off the baseball diamond. Through his attachments to the ballplayers and the lovely Caitlin O'Neill, he might just regain the sense of family he desperately needs. Darryl Brock masterfully evokes post-Civil War America?s smoky, turbulent cities, the new transcontinental railroad that takes passengers over prairies and mountains to California, the dance halls and parlor houses, the financial booms and busts, and historical luminaries like Mark Twain and Jesse James. Equally appealing to sports fans and anyone who likes a good read, If I Never Get Back well deserves the Cleveland Plain Dealer?s judgment that it ?hits a home run.?

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