The Cortlandt Boys

A small town high school basketball team wins the Pennsylvania state championship with an improbable last second three point shot. The Cortlandt Cavaliers celebrate their unlikely victory, but good fortune changes the boys’ worlds in unpredictable ways. This story revisits the characters 10 and 20 years later as the ramifications of their youthful success play out over the course of their lives, forever linking them and the people around them to this little town that has its ways of not quite letting you go.

A small town high school basketball team wins the Pennsylvania state championship with an improbable last second three point shot. The Cortlandt Cavaliers celebrate their unlikely victory, but good fortune changes the boys’ worlds in unpredictable ways. This story revisits the characters 10 and 20 years later as the ramifications of their youthful success play out over the course of their lives, forever linking them and the people around them to this little town that has its ways of not quite letting you go.

Laura Vanderkam is the author of several non-fiction books, including "168 Hours", and "What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast." She is a frequent contributor to publications including USA Today and FastCompany.com, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and children. Laura is the author of All The Money In The World: What The Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending (Portfolio, March 1, 2012), 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (Portfolio, 2010), and Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career Without Paying Your Dues (McGraw-Hill, 2007). She is a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors, writes the “168 Hours” blog for CBS MoneyWatch, and her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, City Journal, Scientific American, Reader’s Digest, Prevention, Fortune.com, and other publications. She has appeared on numerous television programs, including The Today Show and Fox & Friends, hundreds of radio segments, and has spoken about time, money and productivity to audiences ranging from the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association to MTV’s employees to graduating seniors at her high school, the Indiana Academy, who brought her back as their commencement speaker in 2006. A 2001 graduate of Princeton, she enjoys running, writing fiction, and serving as president of the Board of Trustees for The Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, an organization which specializes in commissioning new music from composers under age 35. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband, two young sons and baby daughter.