The Lights of Sheridan Square

Joanna Olenska grew up in a strict, Brooklyn Catholic orphanage and at eighteen "escaped" to Manhattan in search of a dream that has remained just beyond her reach for nearly twelve years. Jay Carraway has abandoned the opulent, secure life of North Greenwich, Connecticut to come to New York and pursue a career very different from the family owned mega-business that he was intended to inherit. Set against the background of the TV commercial production and advertising world of New York City during the late '50s, the novel tells that story of how Jay falls in love with Joanna and pursues her tenaciously, only to find that, for a long time, his love for her is a solo act. Joanna, four years his senior, regards him as simply a nice guy out of his element, having come from a life that she can barely comprehend, populated with people whose attitudes toward her she does not understand. Hardened by the life of a struggling actress, Joanna has wrapped herself in an emotionally protective veneer. In time, she gives in to Jay's openness, his respect, his emotional support and lets him penetrate her shell.Elliot Pierce, a TV commercial director that hires Jay to work for him, lurks as a threat to their happiness because of his past relationship with Joanna. Elliot lives his life on a seamy edge, always giving in to his libido, yet determined to pursue a phantom dream that, in his heart, he is afraid he might catch.Jay's aristocratic, snobbish mother regards Joanna as an unwelcome social interloper. Her efforts to destroy their relationship set in motion events take Jay years to reclaim that which he has lost and to answer questions that have haunted him since a late summer day in 1957.