The Fortress of Solitude is a large and moving novel about the power of friendship and growing up in the urban jungle of New York City. Upon its release, The New York Times named the book the best novel of the year. In the early 1970s, the first white hippie families move into the heart of Brooklyn, which at the time is predominantly inhabited by Black and Puerto Rican residents. Dylan, the shy son of painter Abraham Ebdus and his wife Rachel, is confronted with the family's move into a threatening world. He must fight for every bit of affection, just as he fights for a piece of asphalt while playing in the street. Nevertheless, his mother tries with all her might to integrate him into the neighborhood where she herself grew up. When she disappears one day and his father retreats into the abstract world of his painting, eight-year-old Dylan is left to fend for himself.