Moonlit flirtation, hard-edged humor, and working-class longing drive this vivid portrait of young love in the city. On a Hudson River excursion boat, Eddie Collins stands apart from the laughing crowd until Dot Haley, a bold ukulele player with quick wit and unpolished charm, draws him into teasing conversation, a kiss, and the promise of a future meeting. That brief, electric encounter opens into the cramped realities of their lives: Dot's Bronx home, ruled by duty, poverty, and her father's quiet devotion; Eddie's rough skepticism and uneasy pride; and the social world of apartments, neighbors, and low-paid work that shapes their choices. As Dot learns she is pregnant, the couple faces the strain of money, responsibility, and a baby neither fully understands. Their exchanges mix sarcasm, tenderness, frustration, and fear, revealing both the fragility of their bond and the stubborn affection that keeps them together. Set against urban bustle and holiday anxieties, the novel traces romance colliding with marriage, class, and the hard facts of adulthood. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Delmar, Viña

Viña Delmar was an American writer whose career captured the energy, anxieties, and social changes of early twentieth-century life with uncommon sympathy. Born in New York City in 1903, she began as a journalist and gradually moved into fiction, screenwriting, and playwriting, building a reputation for sharp observation and a gift for dialogue that made ordinary people feel vividly real. She became especially prominent in the 1930s and 1940s, when her novels and scripts reached wide audiences and often explored the emotional lives of women, young people, and working-class families navigating love, marriage, disappointment, and survival. Her writing stood out for its frank attention to subjects many mainstream readers preferred to avoid, including sexual independence, unplanned pregnancy, class pressure, and the gap between social expectation and private desire. That candor gave her work lasting power: she wrote about the costs of judgment and the need for compassion in ways that still feel fresh today. Delmar’s legacy lies in her ability to combine popular appeal with social insight, offering stories that are accessible yet deeply humane. Readers who enjoy character-driven fiction, early feminist perspectives, and emotionally honest tales of family and romance will likely find her work especially rewarding.