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Joseph M. Schuster's absorbing debut novel resonates with the pull of lifelong dreams, the stings of regret, and the ways we define ourselves against uncertain twists of fate.
For Edward Everett Yates, split seconds matter: the precise timing of hitting a low outside pitch, of stealing a base, of running down a fly ball. After a decade playing in the minor leagues - years after most of his peers have given up - he's still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him.
But one more split second changes everything: In what should have been the game of his life, he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career.
Thirty years later, after sacrificing so many opportunities - a lucrative job, relationships with women who loved him, even the chance for a family - Edward Everett is barely hanging on as the manager of a minor league baseball team, still grappling with regret over the choices he made and the life he almost had. Then he encounters two players - one brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable - who show him that his greatest contribution may come in the last place he ever expected.
Full of passion, ambition, and possibility, The Might Have Been maps the profound and unpredictable moments that change our lives forever, and the irresistible power of a second chance.
"Surely destined to join the ranks of transcendent baseball novels." - Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls
"Starred Review. A terrific story that goes beyond the sport and deals with promise and aspirations, dreams and disappointments... Never mind whether you are a baseball fan. This is a damn fine read." - Kirkus Reviews
"Lifelong obsession is hauntingly portrayed in this winning debut novel tracing the life of a baseball player who only wants to play the game. ...This moving tale will engage even non-baseball fans as Schuster examines, without succumbing to sentiment or an easy resolution, the cost of chasing a dream." - Publishers Weekly
This information about The Might Have Been was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Joseph M. Schuster lives near St. Louis, Missouri, and teaches at Webster University. His short fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review, and The Missouri Review, among others. He is married and the father of five children.
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