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City Of Promise: A Novel Of New York's Gilded Age (2011)

by Beverly Swerling(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1439136947 (ISBN13: 9781439136942)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Simon & Schuster

series

Old New York

review 1: I'd already read one one Swerling's books and enjoyed the historical fiction so I thought I'd check out more. This book was great. It captivated me from the start. The characters are actually descendants from City of Dreams. The book is set in the late 1700s as Manhattan is moving farther north. The main female character lives with her aunt in a whorehouse and is destined to be a spinster (at 21!!). She moves to a boardinghouse and takes a job at Macy's in an attempt to find a husband. She had been altering pants for a man who presumably lost his leg in the civil war (actually lost it after the war getting caught in an animal trap escaping from being a POW). The man wants to thank her and they meet and fall in love an marry. He has grand dreams of building apartme... morents in upper NYC. But he has enemies and others who to piggyback off his success. The couple goes thru many trials and tribulations, meeting interesting characters such as a dwarf, a Jewish pawnseller, an eccentric old woman, and more. The story was packed with action and I didn't want to put it down. You were rooting for the couple the whole time! Everything culminates in a bit of a surprise ending that had me tearing up.
review 2: Latest novel in the "City of Dreams" series about New York City. This book takes place in the 1800s and deals with the growth of upscale apartment buildings on the upper east side. Steel manufacturing, instead of building less tall buildings with iron, and the beginning of the New York subway system--as well as the Brooklyn Bridge--are also part of the story. The Devrey family is again plagued with enemies and the story deals with how the issues are resolved. less

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