City of Promise - by Beverly Swerling (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A "vivid tableau of 1870s Manhattan" (Entertainment Weekly), City of Promise continues Beverly Swerling's acclaimed epic saga as New York emerges from the Civil War into the Gilded Age--a city marked by soaring expansion and dazzling glamour.

Beverly Swerling's epic saga continues as New York emerges from the Civil War into the Gilded Age--a city marked by soaring expansion and teeming with unbridled ambition and dazzling glamour. Joshua Turner returns home from the war with only one leg yet determined to make his fortune. He aspires to build the city's first apartment houses for Everyman, a daring vision that will make him the city's first real estate titan but attracts the attention of a shadowy figure from his past. Mollie Brannigan, raised by her Auntie Eileen in the toniest bordello in town, is resigned at age twenty-two to spinsterhood. Then Joshua finds her at Macy's, the city's largest emporium, and takes her coaching in Central Park. In his love Mollie finds a world of possibilities, but a secret Eileen thought left behind in Ireland will force Mollie to employ all her wits to protect not just her chance at happiness but her life. Vividly imagined and awash in period detail, City of Promise delivers not only suspense and intrigue, daring plot twists and bitter rivalries, but also the captivating love story of two people struggling to forge their own destiny.

Review Quotes

"Love, life, adventure, big business and the dazzling glamour and appalling squalor of the city that never sleeps. Even way back in the 1860s." --Anne Bendheim, Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)

"Riotously entertaining . . . Clearly, if Swerling had been my history teacher, I would have paid closer attention." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"Swerling nimbly weaves fact-based history and fast-paced fiction into a vivid tableau of 1870s Manhattan." --Entertainment Weekly

"With a fast-paced, complex plot showcasing opulent Fifth Avenue mansions, Wall Street pandemonium, deals both fair and underhand, and the rising influence of the ethnic gangs, Swerling expertly interlaces the stories of a Gilded Age couple and their magnificent city." --Sarah Johnson, Booklist