Metropolis Gaffney, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Gaffney's magnificent, Dickensian "Metropolis captures the splendor and violence of America's greatest city in the years after the Civil War, as young immigrants climb out of urban chaos and into the American dream.
On a freezing night in the middle of winter, Gaffney's nameless hero is suddenly awakened by a fire in P. T. Barnum's stable, where he works and sleeps, and soon finds himself at the center of a citywide arson investigation.
Determined to clear his name and realize the dreams that inspired his hazardous voyage across the Atlantic, he will change his identity many times, find himself mixed up with one of the city's toughest and most enterprising gangs, and fall in love with a smart, headstrong, and beautiful young woman. Buffeted by the forces of fate, hate, luck, and passion, our hero struggles to build a life-just to stay alive-in a country that at first held so much promise for him.
Epic in sweep, "Metropolis follows our hero from his arrival in New York harbor through his experiences in Barnum's circus, the criminal underground, and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, and on to a life in Brooklyn that is at once unique and poignantly emblematic of the American experience. In a novel that is wonderfully written, rich in suspense, vivid historical detail, breathtakingly paced, Elizabeth Gaffney captures the wonder and magic of a rambunctious city in a time of change. "Metropolis marks a superb fiction debut.

"From the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher:
Following a fire in P. T. Barnum's circus stable, a young German immigrant becomes caught up in New York's criminal underworld while falling in love with an Irish girl, as he becomes the target of a city-wide arson investigation, struggling to stay alive, win the woman he loves, and build a new life in late-nineteenth-century New York.

Annotation:
In a melange of OLIVER TWIST and GANGS OF NEW YORK, Elizabeth Gaffney's novel brings to life the Five Points neighborhood of mid-19th-century New York City, complete with pickpockets, whores, immigrants, murderers, and variously twisted characters. The plot concerns an Irish gang, the Whyos, and the German stableman who crosses their dangerous path. But it's the vivid milieu and the cast of colorful characters that are the novel's true stars.

Praise

Publishers Weekly
[T]he novel's well-researched historical background, enlivened by descriptions of the criminal underworld and the off-beat love story, should ensure wide interest." 12/20/2004

Kirkus Reviews
"Luther alone is worth the price of admission, but there's much more to like in Gaffney's rip-roaring, agreeably ungainly, outrageously entertaining tale." 12/15/2005

Newsweek
"...Gaffney lovingly resurrects Gilded Age New York....[A] novel as strong and heady as the brew her rakes and roustabouts swill by the pint." - Andrew Romano 03/07/2005

New Yorker
"Gaffney marshals formidable research into an engaging narrative....[T]he novel is, like New York itself, satisfying dense and complex...." 04/25/2005

Product Attributes

Book Format:		Paperback
Number of Pages:		0474
Publisher:		Random House Trade

BloomReach Content

Metropolis A Novel (Paperback)

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Praise

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