And All the Saints
-
- $10.99
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
A “compelling” novel based on the life of Irish American gangster Owen Madden, from a New York Times–bestselling author (Booklist).
Winner of the American Book Award for Fiction
His life of crime began at the age of ten, after he crossed the Atlantic with his family and landed in America. Starting as the leader of the most violent Irish street gang in Hell’s Kitchen, the young immigrant rose to prominence as the leading brewer and bootlegger in Prohibition-era New York. In due course, he also became Mae West’s lover; the founder and proprietor of the Cotton Club; the owner of five heavyweight champions; the man who gave his childhood friend George Raft his big break in Hollywood; and more.
This vivid historical novel, written in the form of a fictionalized memoir, uses Madden’s voice to trace his life from his boyhood in England to his early twentieth-century heyday and beyond.
“A bright romp, with enough period detail and dialogue to fill ten Cagney films.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Reminiscent of Roddy Doyle's novel A Star Called Henry.” —Booklist
“A tale that feels remarkably authentic.” —Hartford Courant
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
By turns fascinating and familiar, Walsh's third novel (after Exchange Alley and As Time Goes By) is a fictionalized account of the life of Owen Madden, the so-called "Irish Godfather," who became an organized crime giant during the Prohibition years, running in the same circles as Al Capone, Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano. The chapters describing Madden's early childhood in Leeds and his impoverished family's immigration to New York are boilerplate, but the story picks up considerably when Madden begins his life of crime at age 10, joining a local Irish gang in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. Monk Eastman, a Jewish Tammany Hall boss with criminal operations on the Lower East Side, takes Madden under his wing and teaches him the business. Madden starts selling beer during Prohibition and makes a killing, though a few stints in jail and a duel with his best friend and beer-selling rival Dutch Schultz cramp his style a bit. Walsh saves his best material for the end, when Franklin Roosevelt turns up the heat on Madden during his presidential campaign, vowing to crack down on corruption. Walsh spices up the novel with cameo appearances by George Raft, Jack Johnson, Duke Ellington and Lena Horne, though these scenes are sometimes little more than opportunities for name-dropping. The subplot about Madden's attempts to keep his louche buddies away from his sister, May, is lifeless, but the novel is saved by a crisp, compelling finale. In all, a lively slice of gangster life, though the novel's weak spots make this a slower read than it should be.
