City of God: A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York
Beverly Swerling / Dec 10, 2019
City of God A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York City of God the latest installment in Beverly Swerling s gripping saga of old New York takes readers to Manhattan s clamorous streets as the nation struggles to find a compromise between slave and f

City of God, the latest installment in Beverly Swerling s gripping saga of old New York, takes readers to Manhattan s clamorous streets as the nation struggles to find a compromise between slave and free, but hears the drums of war This is New York when one synagogue is no longer adequate for thousands of Jewish immigrants, when New Evangelicals rouse complacent Protest City of God, the latest installment in Beverly Swerling s gripping saga of old New York, takes readers to Manhattan s clamorous streets as the nation struggles to find a compromise between slave and free, but hears the drums of war This is New York when one synagogue is no longer adequate for thousands of Jewish immigrants, when New Evangelicals rouse complacent Protestants with the promise of born again salvation, and when it first sees Catholic nuns and calls them whores of Satan It is New York when ships bring the fabulous wealth of nations to its wharves and auction houses, while a short distance away rival gangs fight to the death with broken bottles and teeth filed to points.Into this churning cauldron comes young Dr Nicholas Turner Nick knows that the discoveries of antisepsis and anesthesia promise medical miracles beyond the dreams of ages He learns that to make such progress reality he must battle the city s corrupt politics and survive the snake pit that is Bellevue Hospital, all while resisting his love for the beautiful Carolina Devrey, his cousin s wife Sam Devrey, head of the shipping company that bears his name and a visionary who believes the future will be ushered in by mighty clipper ships spreading acres of sail, battles demons of his own The life he lives with Carolina in the elegant brownstone on newly fashionable Fifth Avenue is a charade meant to disguise his heart s true home, the secret downtown apartment of the exquisite Mei hua, his Chinese child bride The worlds of all four are imperiled when Sam must rely on Nick s skills to save the woman he loves, and only Nick s honor guards Sam s secret On a night when promises of hellfire seem to become reality and the city nearly burns to the ground, Carolina and Mei hua confront the truth of their duplicitous marriages Rage and revenge join love and passion as driving forces in a story played out against the background of the glittering New York that rises from the ashes, where Delmonico s and the Astor House host bejeweled women and top hatted men, both with the din of commerce in their ears and the glint of gold in their eyes.As always, Swerling has conjured a dazzling cast of characters to people her city Among those seeking born again salvation are Addie Bellingham, befriended by the widow Manon Turner but willing to betray her, and Lilac Langton, who confesses her sins but avoids mentioning that she s a skilled abortionist in a city that has recently made abortion a crime Ben Klein, a brilliant young physician, must balance devotion to his mentor and dedication to research with duty to the Jewish community Wilbur Randolf, Carolina s father, indulges her in everything but fails her when she needs him most Jenny Worthington, Wilbur s longtime mistress, is driven by avarice to make common cause with Fearless Flannagan, a member of a New York police force as corrupt as the city it serves Ah Chee, Mei hua s devoted servant, struggles through Manhattan s streets on bound feet and burns incense to the kitchen god in this place of foreign devils They are all here, heroines and saints, villains and victims, and a vanished New York made to live again in an intricate tale of old debts and new rivalries.
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[PDF] É Unlimited ☆ City of God: A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York : by Beverly Swerling ✓
221 Beverly Swerling
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Title: [PDF] É Unlimited ☆ City of God: A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York : by Beverly Swerling ✓
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Published :2019-09-12T22:19:11+00:00
Beverly Swerling
I m told that a number of critics who have said kind things about my books, have been less kind about the very brief bio on my book jackets First, don t blame Simon Schuster it s my fault Publishers use the data supplied by the author for this kind of thing, and I didn t supply much I guess because it seems that almost everything needs a long explanation Which is probably me being egotistical What do you care, right You buy my books to be entertained and very grateful I am , you don t give two hoots about me But there are those picky critics Here then is a somewhat less abbreviated version.I grew up in the Boston suburb of Revere, and while I won t tell you when, I will say that it was very different from what it is today The beach was, as it still is, one of the natural wonders of the state of Massachusetts, but the front was NOT lined with condo high rises It was a boardwalk with stands selling fried clams Massachusetts has the world s best fried clams made from the Ipswich soft shells, they remain what I d choose for my last meal on this earth and French fries and soft ice cream that we called frozen custard Plus there were all kinds of gambling games of the sort found at any fairground pitch til you win, folks and a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster and a tunnel of love Another feature of Revere back then was that it was almost entirely either Jewish or Italian my own family is a mixture of both and because the town had a dog track Wonderland and a horse track Suffolk Downs there was a lot of what is politely called off track betting Which wasn t legal then, and for all I know still is not Nonetheless, any number of family members rented rooms to bookies the chief requirement being that these gentlemen of the turf had to be able to see one or the other of the tote boards with binoculars, a world without cell phones, remember and know how much they were liable to pay out, which in turn affected what odds they could offer on the next race.I went from that upstanding childhood to a small Catholic girls college in the Midwest, then a job in New York as a file clerk to support my writing all non fiction at first until I was able to earn my way as a free lance journalist For a time after that I lived in Europe.Where I got married for a brief and unpleasant period, then came home and wrote non fiction And got married again.And went back to Europe.And started writing fiction, and hallelujah selling it.And came back to New York with my by now long time husband, and began writing City of Dreams Which just about catches you up Except for the bits I ve left out.And, oh yes, one other important part of my life and my work On that so brief bio on the SS book jacket it mentions that I m a consultant Many people have asked me what kind.Happens that my husband who has his own website at agentresearch runs the world s number one consultancy for authors looking for new or sometimes a first agents It s called Agent Research and Evaluation, Inc and I do some work for some of his clients I also occasionally mentor new writers and some who are not so new What they all have in common is a passion for what they re writing, so working with them gives me great joy, and most have found it helpful Admittedly not all I set the bar high Some of what I have to share about the hows and the whys of this wonderful but very tough business of writing can be found at The Business of Writing page At other parts of the site you ll find about my books, including excerpts from some not yet published work, such as City of Glory, which continues the story of the Turners and the Devreys of City of Dreams City of Glory will be out in January We ve also put up an excerpt from the next book in that series, still little than a gleam in my eye.