"An exciting, wonderfully told story ...Yampolsky has done it again."

-Nelson Johnson, Boardwalk Empire and Darrow's Nightmare




1945. WWII ends in the Pacific, and Jack Laurel-a decorated Marine Captain at twenty-one-returns home to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and

Alice, the girl he plans to marry. While she thrives as a Pine Barrens naturalist, he excels in his sales job, and their marriage is soon blessed

with a son, a perfect child. Surely, these are the best of times.




When tragedy strikes, the weight of Jack's loss is almost too much to bear. Stoic to a fault, he soldiers on, partnering with his inventor friend

to build the country's first mobile phone network. The venture is poised to make Jack wealthy beyond his dreams, but no amount of business success can dispel his loneliness or the thoughts of what might have been.




Can Jack ever be whole again?




"In this homage to the entrepreneurial spirit that fueled America's Greatest Generation, Yampolsky wraps a vital history lesson in a

riveting tale of love, loss, and renewal. A remarkable feat of storytelling."

-Lee Davis Willoughby, The Making of America




***The Best of Times is the follow up to J. Louis Yampolsky's debut novel A Boardwalk Story**