"If Market Street ever flooded," said Stanislaus Ouspensky, "South Philly would be an island. ...Water on three sides; history on the fourth. All it would take is a little push and we're cut off from the present. Because Time gets confused in South Philly."

Set in Philadelphia in the 1950's, A PRINCESS OF PASSYUNK is a peculiar coming-of-age tale—a story of faith, love and magic set in the archipelago formed by immigrant neighborhoods.

Ganady Puzdrovsky grows from boy to man on a quest for New World magic. He finds it in unlikely places: in his Baba Irina's stories, in the imaginative ramblings of Mr. Ouspensky, in the religious faith of a priest and a rabbi, in a pop foul at a Giants'/Phillies game, in love that goes beyond racial or religious boundaries, in Izzy's Jewish deli.

Through the agency of a very special baseball, finds and falls for a peculiar and mysterious princess that no one else believes exists. But having found the girl of his dreams, Ganady loses her again. He goes on a hero's quest and confronts a Sausage King, a feisty crone, and a winsome bard in order to find her.