Once Upon A Mall

Late 1989.

When twelve year old Billy Szentgyorgy moves to Sinking Spring, a suburb of Reading, Pennsylvania, nothing feels familiar. Not the school. Not the neighborhood. Not the uneasy feeling that he is somehow out of step with the world around him.

But slowly, things begin to change.

There are new friends. Snow covered streets. Bike rides through quiet neighborhoods after dark. School dances, awkward jokes, and endless afternoons at the Berkshire Mall beneath glowing skylights while winter gathers outside the glass.

For Billy, the mall becomes more than a place to spend time. It becomes the center of a world filled with first independence, first heartbreak, and moments that feel ordinary at the time but linger long afterward.

Set against the fading glow of late 1980s suburban America, Once Upon a Mall is a warm, nostalgic coming-of-age novel about family, friendship, first love, and the quiet moments that shape us forever.