Paradise Alley

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

They came by boat from a starving landand by the Underground Railroad from Southern chainsseeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the bottom of a great metropolis. But in the terrible July of 1863, the poor and desperate of Paradise Alley would face a new catastropheas flames from the war that was tearing America in two reached out to set their city on fire.

Reviews

"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

Author Bio

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.