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Overview
One snowy New Year's Day, in the midst of the Great Depression, Dr. James Delaney—haunted by the slaughters of the Great War, and abandoned by his wife and daughter—returns home to find his three-year-old grandson on his doorstep, left by his mother in Delaney's care. Coping with this unexpected arrival, Delaney hires Rose, a tough, decent Sicilian woman with a secret in her past. Slowly, as Rose and the boy begin to care for the good doctor, the numbness in Delaney begins to melt. Recreating 1930s New York with the vibrancy and rich detail that are his trademarks, Pete Hamill weaves a story of honor, family, and one man's simple courage that no reader will soon forget.
Synopsis
One snowy New Year's Day, in the midst of the Great Depression, Dr. James Delaney—haunted by the slaughters of the Great War, and abandoned by his wife and daughter—returns home to find his three-year-old grandson on his doorstep, left by his mother in Delaney's care. Coping with this unexpected arrival, Delaney hires Rose, a tough, decent Sicilian woman with a secret in her past. Slowly, as Rose and the boy begin to care for the good doctor, the numbness in Delaney begins to melt. Recreating 1930s New York with the vibrancy and rich detail that are his trademarks, Pete Hamill weaves a story of honor, family, and one man's simple courage that no reader will soon forget.
Publishers Weekly
Hamill's quietly engrossing novel skillfully conjures the gritty world of lower Manhattan during the Depression, weaving elements of suspense, comedy and romance as Jim Delaney navigates the melting pot city. Strozier reads Delaney's part with gravelly and wise authority. He transforms his tone convincingly as Delaney, a newly widowed doctor and war vet, finds his bitter heart starting to thaw when he is left to care for his grandson Carlos. Delaney hires a Sicilian immigrant, Rose, to help care for the child, and Strozier offers a credible take on her thickly accented, husky but womanly voice. Strozier also gives impressively distinctive voices to a long cast of well-drawn characters such as a good-hearted mobster, a brash young Jewish hospital doctor and assorted recent Irish immigrants who depend on Delaney's comforting ministrations. Listening to Strozier read Hamill's evocative descriptions of Delaney walking through Union Square, Greenwich Village and Chinatown and his encounters with a wide variety of New York denizens, one can almost feel that former Manhattan resurrected. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 23). (Aug.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationEditorials
From Barnes & Noble
Dr. James Delaney's inner life is a numbing vacancy. It is 16 years after the end of World War I, but his days are still haunted by its bloody terror. His wife has left him, or simply disappeared; his only child has gone to Mexico; and he ekes out a Depression existence, tending to his down-and-out neighbors whether they can pay or not. This almost robotic crawl continues until he is unexpectedly charged with the care of his three-year-old grandson. Delaney hires Rose, a Sicilian immigrant, to assist him with his new charge. Rose has her own emotional baggage, but her arrival and the toddler's reshape the mild doctor's life. Pete Hamill's tenth novel manages to pull your heartstrings without rousing your cynicism.Publishers Weekly
Hamill's quietly engrossing novel skillfully conjures the gritty world of lower Manhattan during the Depression, weaving elements of suspense, comedy and romance as Jim Delaney navigates the melting pot city. Strozier reads Delaney's part with gravelly and wise authority. He transforms his tone convincingly as Delaney, a newly widowed doctor and war vet, finds his bitter heart starting to thaw when he is left to care for his grandson Carlos. Delaney hires a Sicilian immigrant, Rose, to help care for the child, and Strozier offers a credible take on her thickly accented, husky but womanly voice. Strozier also gives impressively distinctive voices to a long cast of well-drawn characters such as a good-hearted mobster, a brash young Jewish hospital doctor and assorted recent Irish immigrants who depend on Delaney's comforting ministrations. Listening to Strozier read Hamill's evocative descriptions of Delaney walking through Union Square, Greenwich Village and Chinatown and his encounters with a wide variety of New York denizens, one can almost feel that former Manhattan resurrected. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 23). (Aug.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
In Depression-era New York, Dr. James Delaney generously helps others, but since his wife and daughter have disappeared, he can barely help himself. Everything changes when he must care for the grandson abandoned on his doorstep. Hamill revisits the New York he loves; with a five-city tour. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.School Library Journal
North River is an evocative account of life in New York City in 1934. As the effects of the Depression rage all around him, Dr. James Delaney tries to serve the needs of his mostly Irish and Italian patients. His life had been disrupted a year earlier by the disappearance of his wife, but an even bigger change occurs when daughter Grace deposits her three-year-old son, Carlito, on his doorstep while she goes to Spain to search for her Marxist husband. The doctor hires a Sicilian immigrant, Rose, to look after the boy and finds himself changed forever by the two. Hamill diminishes the sentimental nature of his tale by having James and Rose caught up in a conflict between warring mob factions. Henry Strozier narrates in an engagingly gruff manner yet provides vivid, credible voices for Rose and Carlito. Recommended for popular collections.
—Michael Adams Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information