"A coming-of-age story set during the rising tide of World War II, How to Find Your Way in the Dark follows Sheldon Horowitz from his humble start in a cabin in rural Massachusetts, through the trauma of his father's murder and the murky experience of assimilation in Hartford, Connecticut, to the birth of stand-up comedy in the Catskills-all while he and his friends are beset by anti-Semitic neighbors, employers, and criminals"-- 1938. Twelve-year old Sheldon Horowitz is still recovering from the tragic loss of his mother only a year ago when a suspicious traffic accident steals the life of his father near their home in rural Massachusetts. Sheldon, who was in the truck, emerges from the crash an orphan hell-bent on revenge. He embarks on a new life under the roof of his buttoned-up Uncle Nate in Hartford. Sheldon, his teenage cousins Abe and Mirabelle, and his best friend, Lenny, will contend with tradition and orthodoxy, appeasement and patriotism, mafia hit-men and angry accordion players, all while World War II takes center stage alongside a hurricane in New England and comedians in the Catskills. -- adapted from jacket