600 Hours of Edward

Edward Stanton is a 39-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder who tracks his most common waking time (7:38 a.m.), refuses to start his therapy sessions even one minute before the appointed hour (10:00 a.m.), and watches exactly one episode of Dragnet each night (10:00 p.m.).

When 9-year-old Kyle and his mother move in across the street, Edward’s timetable is upended, and for an exhilarating 600 hours, he opens his door to new neighbors and new problems. The solace of friendship, however, comes with risks—heartache, uncertainty, and change. Ultimately, Edward must decide whether to remain in his rigid, solitary world or embrace the beautiful vagaries of the heart.

A thirty-nine-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Edward Stanton lives alone on a rigid schedule in the Montana town where he grew up. His carefully constructed routine includes tracking his most common waking time (7:38 a.m.), refusing to start his therapy sessions even a minute before the appointed hour (10:00 a.m.), and watching one episode of the 1960s cop show Dragnet each night (10:00 p.m.). But when a single mother and her nine-year-old son move in across the street, Edward’s timetable comes undone. Over the course of a momentous 600 hours, he opens up to his new neighbors and confronts old grievances with his estranged parents. Exposed to both the joys and heartaches of friendship, Edward must ultimately decide whether to embrace the world outside his door or retreat to his solitary ways. Heartfelt and hilarious, this moving novel will appeal to fans of Daniel Keyes’s classic Flowers for Algernon and to any reader who loves an underdog.