City Of Glory
A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The eagerly-anticipated sequel to City of Dreams, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as 'near perfect historical fiction.’
In the epic tradition of Edward Rutherfurd's London, a master storyteller charts the destiny of two Manhattan families against the backdrop of the War of 1812.
As a fledgling nation defends itself against invaders, New York's merchants and entrepreneurs conspire in their counting houses by day and carouse in their brothels and gambling parlours by night. Their choices: betrayal or patriotism; a young and fragile America or a greed older than time.
In what is destined to become the greatest city in the New World, a sweeping tale of pride and ambition, love and war, is played out by an unforgettable cast of characters: Joyful Turner, surgeon and hero; Bastard Devrey, desperate owner of a fleet of trading ships; Gornt Blakeman, a merchant prince who lusts to be a king; and the women who love them, Manon, Delight and Eugenue, each with dark secrets of their own; and the Wall Street money men, pirates and mercenaries, runaway slaves, shipwrights, butchers and barkeeps who fill New York's teeming streets.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Swerling sets her enthralling follow-up to City of Dreams against the backdrop of the War of 1812, when New Yorkers are suffering the dire economic effects of a British blockade of American ports, and talk of secession is rife. In Manhattan, the wealthy and unscrupulous trader Gornt Blakeman is the leader of the secessionist schemers. Blakeman's nemesis, and Swerling's larger-than-life hero, is surgeon and patriot Joyful Patrick Turner. Having lost a hand to a British cannonball earlier in the war, Joyful returns to Manhattan to start over as a "Canton trader." When Blakeman tries to rally New Yorkers to secede and kidnaps Joyful's sweetheart, the comely and headstrong Manon Vionne, Joyful races to expose Blakeman's treachery and rescue Manon from his clutches. Swerling's swashbuckling tale brings old Manhattan vividly to life, throbbing with restless energy and populated with a diverse and intriguing cast of characters: both real (John Jacob Astor) and richly imagined. Fans of historical fiction and those interested in the early history of Manhattan will enjoy this evocative and entertaining saga.
