About this item
Highlights
- 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.
- Author(s): Kevin Baker
- 704 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Historical
- Series Name: City of Fire Trilogy
Description
About the Book
Now in paperback comes the story of the intersection of the Irish and African-American experiences in the crucible of 19th-century New York--a story of race and hatred, love and war, of risk and dauntless courage.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