Paradise Alley

Description

Paradise Alley is the story of three Irish immigrant women who are trapped together in the midst of the Draft Riots-perhaps the bloodiest, most destructive riots in American history. Ruth, married to a black man, tries to shield herself and her children from an abusive former lover. Deirdre, the embodiment of "lace-curtain-Irish" respectability, is desperate for news of her husband Tom, who lies wounded on the battlefield of Gettysburg. And Maddy, a hard-living prostitute, rejects the patronage of the cynical journalist who took her off the streets, recklessly endangering herself and those around her. Paradise Alley is a searing, historical epic, sweeping from the starving villages of Ireland to riotous streets of New York City and the battlefields of Virginia. It is a story of the intersection of the Irish-and African-American experiences in the crucible of nineteenth-century New York-a story of race and hatred, of love and sacrifice, of fire and war, of risk and dauntless courage.

KEVIN BAKER is the author of the bestselling novel DREAMLAND, picked by the Christian Science Monitor as one of the 10 Best Books of 1999 and PARADISE ALLEY, an extended NYT Bestseller which was selected for the Today Show Book Club by Frank McCourt.

"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