Paul Hardman

Fifteen, or the Lecherous Behavior of One Jay Devins Paul Hardman

Fifteen is a portrait of curbed adolescence, agency lost, and a police sting to pay off student loans. It is a coming of age memoir wherein innocence and abuse commingle to describe the harm and love that humans can cause each other... with an attempt at justice throughout. Set in the Washington, DC suburbs, Paul spends his summer days of fifteen skateboarding, sweat-caked, and untended. He befriends his adult neighbor Jay, an inconspicuous chihuahua breeder. Slowly, he is methodically initiated into the world of drugs, abuse, and whittled inhibitions. Twelve years later, when Paul has a family of his own, he must face his brute history with strength and honesty. This is a story of faceless neighbors, unwanted kids, and redemption through the purity of childhood friendships. It is an honest and inspiring portrait of the teenage psyche, that leaves readers forever changed.