Flatbellies

""Compelling...A coming-of-age classic - think Stand by Me, The Wonder Years, American Graffiti, and A Christmas Story meet on the first tee of a dusty muni in El Viento, OK., for a fourball in Smalltown, USA. ...Almost from the start, you'll feel like the sixth member of the gang, because Hollingsworth can turn the most hardened cynic into a sentimental sap."" --Barker Davis, Washington Times ""Flatbellies reads like a combination of American Graffiti and Hoosiers put on pages with humor and wit. It's a wonderful story about relationships and about how a kid can make a compassionate impact on people from a variety of social classes. I loved it."" --Doug Ferguson, Associated Press, 2019 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award In Journalism ""Flatbellies"" made me relive my whole childhood - especially the parts I wish would have happened."" --Kurt Kragthorpe, Salt Lake Tribune ""It's the characters from Stand By Me grown up, introduced to peer pressure and the pressure of small-town life at a big-time crossroads in American history...you get to go along for a wonderful ride."" --Brian Robin, Los Angeles Times ""I found myself both laughing and crying... funny, poignant, inspiring, and absolutely terrific!"" --Bob Fagan, Golf Today Magazine ""Equal parts Stand By Me and Missing Links, Flatbellies is a rollicking, lyrical tale of teen angst, rebellion and redemption set in the mid-1960s. ...Propelled by seamless, sophisticated writing, unpredictable plot twists, and well-developed characters, Flatbellies blends its robust morality tale with a touching, quirky love story and a healthy dose of beer-fueled humor. ...a fast-paced, entertaining story that seizes and surprises the reader from its opening paragraph."" --James McCarten, GolfWeb at PGAtour.com ""Flatbellies is a nostalgic, evocative glimpse back through time at the way things used to be in America's heartland 35 years ago."" --George Kimball, Boston Herald ""...As the story unfolds, Hollingsworth touches upon some fond and deep memories about life in the mid-1960s in Middle America...There's much to enjoy in this engaging new novel."" --Fritz Schranck, (Delaware) Cape Gazette ""WOW! What a book. I can't remember the last time I've been so captivated by a book...As for the movie potential, I'd be one of the first in line for tickets and one of the last ones out so no one sees the tears that seeing that final chapter on the silver screen are bound to draw out."" --Rob Hernandez, Wisconsin State Journal ""A remarkable debut...(sports books) are not always this good, this funny, this moving. It's not a sports book. It's not a guy book. It's about life, and that's pretty universal."" --Ann DeFrange, Daily Oklahoman ""The skillfully crafted characters...enter their senior years dedicated to achieving the impossible, but love, loss and life keep getting in the way."" --Carol J. Burr, Sooner Magazine ""A charming and beautifully written new golf novel joining the elite coming of age stories of a generation. Set in a small Oklahoma town in the mid-1960s, it is a memorable and moving tale of the struggles and accomplishments of a high-school golf team and its quest to win the state championship."" --Golfread.com