Book review: If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go

Judy Chicurel

You can almost smell the dope wafting from the Starlight Hotel over the rotting boardwalk in this evocative debut novel.

It conjures up a long summer at the tail-end of the hippie era in a decaying seaside town in Long Island. Once a desirable resort, Elephant Beach is now down on its luck, populated by a tough working class community and deeply scarred by the Vietnam War.