‘Whiz Kid’ author to appear in Rehoboth July 24

Author Joel Burcat will sign copies of his book, “Whiz Kid,” from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Thursday, July 24, at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach.

The richly woven novel set in 1950 Philadelphia delivers a compelling story of ambition, identity, love and resilience. Ben Green, a young Jewish Navy veteran and aspiring novelist, finds himself at a crossroads as he navigates the tensions between postwar American optimism and the harsh realities of prejudice, family obligations and personal dreams.

David Burcat, Joel’s father, was a Navy corpsman in World War II. After David died in 1998, Joel’s mother gave him the papers from his dad’s University of Pennsylvania days in the early 1950s. Among them was a 16-page typewritten manuscript.

“I read it, loved it and tucked it away, knowing I’d return to it someday,” said Burcat. “A decade later, I built ‘Whiz Kid’ around his story.”