James Pinckney Miller

"Surviving Joy" is the first novel in over ten years by J.P. Miller, the celebrated author of "Days of Wine and Roses," featuring a hugely likable character whose story, for reasons peculiar to his origins, he feels needs to be told - warts, embarrassments, ecstasies and all - with no holds barred. It is the story of the early life of Dub Johnson, a.k.a. Tex Frontere, a mannish boy trying to find his way in and about Depression-era Houston, Texas. Dub, who is by turns a brilliant student, eager if naive lover and amateur prize-fighter, is in danger of losing himself in a passion that once seemed to promise the world. Her name is Joy, which is what she gives him - until her consuming desires threaten Dub, his hopes for the future, even his survival.

Dramatization of the events surrounding the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's infant son, the subsequent murder investigation, and the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann.