About The Garbage Brothers:

The Garbage Brothers is a poignant and hilarious story set in Chicago’s suburbs in the summer of 1969. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Wheeler’s comfy and secure suburban existence shatters after his father dies of a heart attack and his mother moves away, leaving his family broke and his naive, underachieving son adrift without prospects. After graduating (barely) from high school, Jesse finds a summer job hauling garbage for Willard Sanitation Service with a crew of felons—Pickles, Zeus, Grits, and their foreman Billy Bart—and their alcoholic boss, Benjamin Willard III, in the blue-collar town of Freedom. Grits, a knife-wielding legendary car thief, introduces Jesse to his niece, a plain-speaking and mesmerizing young woman named Iris, who turns Jesse’s world upside down. Jesse’s relationship with Iris and his ability to survive the punishing lessons inflicted by his street-smart, funny, and sometimes dangerous co-workers while winning their respect and friendship fills this gritty coming-of-age story with warmth, laughter, and heartache. 

Author bio:

Paul Neville is an award-winning journalist who worked for decades as a reporter and editor at The Register-Guard in Eugene. He lives in Eugene, Oregon, where he is an author and singer-songwriter whose favorite gigs are playing for the unhoused. And, yeah, he once helped pay his way through Northwestern University in Chicago by working for a garbage collection company.