Facebook Linkedin

Drapkin Books

Now and at the Hour​

Billy Malsavage is a young aide at a state institution for developmentally disabled people. Among the “residents” in his assigned group are Buddy, a 54-year-old man with severe cerebral palsy who longs to leave his useless body and ascend to heaven; and Ricky, a twelve-year old boy who lived a normal life until a football accident left him unable to walk or talk or take care of himself. Billy has his own difficult issues and demons, but he comes to care very much for Buddy and Ricky. This is a story about three isolated people who struggle to connect with others and to find some meaning, and maybe even salvation, in their sad lives.

now and at the hour
Order Now

Now and At the Hour Reviews

“Now and at the Hour is a real page-turner. I felt a part of the unit on which Billy works, and the cast of characters was descriptive and relatable. The flow of the book made it easy to pick up and read, and difficult to put down. . . At Christmas I always have a book I pick out that connects me to my spiritual side. This was perfect.”
Linda RuedyAmazon Review
“Now and at the Hour is a beautifully written, essential, simultaneously funny and sad story about life inside and outside B Ward in a residential facility for people with assorted disabilities. . . Read the book; you’ll never be the same.”
L. Kenneth HaynesAmazon Review
“In this deeply moving and eloquent debut novel, Martin Drapkin evokes all the richness of the human condition, embracing the grains that lend our lives their flavor. This is all the more surprising since the extraordinary inner lives that Drapkin portrays are about as outwardly limited as they could possibly be, alternating among three highly compromised characters. . . Despite the characters’ physical limitations, and the potential darkness of the novel’s themes, the book pulses with humor, good temper, and sympathy, as an exhilarating exploration of the possibility of a kind of salvation, and an affirmation of the redemptive power of compassion and unconditional love.”
Ronald WallaceFormer Director of Creative Writing Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Now and at the Hour is a page-turner. Isn’t that strange for a story in which almost nothing happens? We want to know what Billy is thinking next, what Buddy is thinking next, and what Ricky is thinking next. They are interesting characters. They make us laugh when we should be expecting to cry.”
John ScepanskiAmazon Review