Paradise Alley - (City of Fire Trilogy) by Kevin Baker (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

They came by boat from a starving land--and by the Underground Railroad from Southern chains--seeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the bottom of a great metropolis. But in the terrible July of 1863, the poor and desperate of Paradise Alley would face a new catastrophe--as flames from the war that was tearing America in two reached out to set their city on fire.

Review Quotes

"Rich in color and drama.... Extraordinary.... A triumph." -- New York Times

Phenomenal." -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"An engrossing epic" -- Entertainment Weekly

"A page-turning epic." -- New York Post

"Deftly plotted, fabulously detailed, and never less than absorbing." -- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Extraordinary....Baker achieves a hallucinatory realism packed with sensory detail, demonstrating why historical fiction is able to trump conventional historiography." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Extraordinary....Baker achieves a hallucinatory realism packed with sensory detail." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Paradise Alley probes the primal mysteries of ...love and war with skill, drama and deep humanity." -- Edmonton Journal

"Skillfully illuminates a little-known episode in this country's history." -- Library Journal

"[A] richly detailed, impeccably researched drama." -- Booklist

"[A] huge success....fascinating, instructive, never pedantic." -- Houston Chronicle

"Paradise Alley is a skillful historical reconstruction -- an exploration of love and loyalty." -- Hartford Courant

"Inspired.... vividly entertaining, and its themes are as timely as any drawn from this morning's newspaper. " -- Baltimore Sun

"A rare and special work." -- Denver Post

"[An] extraordinary talent....Kevin Baker is quickly altering the landscape of American historical fiction." -- Christian Science Monitor