Fall Book Preview: J.R. Moehringer's 'The Tender Bar'

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Moehringer’s memoir about what happened when, as a boy of seven, he turned to the male patrons of a local bar to replace the father he never knew. “We are making an extraordinary effort to get it out to readers.” Hyperion started by distributing a copy of the manuscript to every person at the company, many of whom have turned into walking endorsements. These included Hyperion president Bob Smith, who proudly went on record as saying, “I laughed and I cried,” and publicity assistant Brittain Palmedo, who says she’s giving the book to all her friends. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, says he wanted to write a book that would resonate with others. “I feel like, when memoirs fail, it’s because they are just about the author,” he says. The book, which Smith calls Hyperion’s “labor of love,” pays equal tribute to the author’s mother and to the tough guys with soft hearts she let help raise him. “I spend all this time trying to learn from these guys how to be a man, and the toughest person I know is my own mom,” Moehringer says. “Reading the book forced her to consider how good of a woman she is.”

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Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 30, 2005