"Lamb's rich panoply of details . . . render this novel first-rate escapism just begging for a comforter and a cup of tea."--Minneapolis Star Tribune Wally Lamb, the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much Is True, and She's Come Undone, delivers a holiday treat with Wishin' and Hopin'--an unforgettable novella that captures the warmth and joy of the holiday season. Poignant and hilarious, with his latest story, Wishin' and Hopin', Wally Lamb takes a turn toward the lighthearted and laugh-provoking. In a vein similar to Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story and David Sedaris's The Santaland Diaries, Lamb's holiday tale focuses on a feisty parochial school fifth grader named Felix Funicello--a distant cousin of the iconic Annette! Both poignant and hilarious, Wishin' and Hopin' transports us back to October, November, and December of 1964, when LBJ and Lady Bird were in the White House, Meet the Beatles was on everyone's turntables, and Christmas meant mistletoe, mangers, and midnight mass. Then it propels us from the past to the present so that we might measure what we've gained and what we've lost.