FALLOUT SHELTER - BEST FICTION, NYC BIG BOOK AWARD, NEW ADULT
SILVER MEDAL, LITERARY/CONTEMPORARY FICTION, CIPA AWARDS
RUNNER UP, BEST FICTION, NY BOOK FESTIVAL
“A terrific read that not only perfectly captures the New York City of the 1970s but, in its page-turning plotting, has resonance with some of today’s scandal headlines. If you lived through that era, this book will bring it back to you in a rush for younger readers, it’s a perfect time capsule of a time that nostalgia has deceptively disguised as more innocent.” –Peter Bloch, Saturday Evening Post, Contributing Editor
Steven Schindler is up there with great Bronx authors Richard Price and Avery Corman in telling wonderful stories in this much-maligned borough!” -James Hannon, Author, Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang
“Glimmers of hope and happiness shine through all the way to the end… An extraordinary tale of the tribulations on the road to adulthood.” -Kirkus Reviews
"Both a tender coming-of-age New York period piece and a harrowing exploration of corruption in the church." -Booklife/Publishers Weekly
A nuclear fallout shelter could be in a church, school, or city hall. But an abandoned fallout shelter in the basement of a Bronx apartment building became a refuge for three best friends where they could plan their dreams and their schemes throughout their lives.Chili, Mikey, and Angel scoffed at fear. Atomic bomb "duck and cover" drills were opportunities for mischief in darkened school hallways. Enraged nuns and priests spitting fire and brimstone were a cause for hidden hilarity.Little did they know that lurking in places reserved for the sacred, evil was hiding in plain sight.They were used to the dangers on the city streets, but they weren't prepared for the sins of the Fathers.Chili risked everything to protect those he loved and there wasn't a commandment that could stop him. “Having grown up attending Bronx Catholic schools, Fallout Shelter really hits home for me. Schindler excels at re-creating that environment, and the joys and sorrows of childhood relationships in the inner city.
