Grace Zolla Protano

As Long As You Can See the Clock, You're Okay: South Brooklyn in the 1950s Grace Zolla Protano

In Grace Zolla Protano's touching memoir we meet the people who most impacted her life: her brothers Jack and Sal, who gave her strength and laughter; her father Anthony, who showed her gentleness and character. We see her mother Fiorentina, who taught her kindness and wonder, but whose emotionally crippling illness stole half a childhood. Set mainly in Brooklyn in the 1950s, AS LONG AS YOU CAN SEE THE CLOCK, YOU'RE OKAY is a recollection of growing up with a unique love embodying joy and sadness; pride and shame; tenderness and cruelty. The author longs for her absent mother and we cry with her; she feels a safety just by seeing Downtown Brooklyn's 512 foot icon, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank clock tower, and we understand fully why AS LONG AS YOU CAN SEE THE CLOCK, YOU'RE OKAY.