City of God: A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York

Once upon a time there was a lovely little Chinese girl whose father was a pirate of a sort and worked with white men smuggling opium out of China. One day one of these white men, an American named Sam Devrey, spotted the girl, and though she was only three, he knew he must have her for his wife. And so this girl, whose name was Plum Blossom, was trained to be the perfect wife to a rich man who owned his own kingdom in a place called New York-right down to the three inch golden lilies (foot mutilation) that made the gait of the Chinese woman so attractive. Years past and Sam was happily ensconced with his Chinese wife (not in a palace but above a warehouse which she believes is a palace because she can't leave the three rooms they live in or open the curtains), he realized he has a problem. The Devrey's, like their cousins the Turner's (See City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan for the back story") are one of the oldest and most predominate families in New York-and having a half-cast Chinese heir just won't do (Not to mention he doesn't want to share his wife, Plum Blossom or Mei-hua with anyone, or risk her life or figure in childbirth.) So he marries again, this time to a tall blond white woman, Carolina who he finds physically unappealing, but knows that upon her father's death, Carolina will inherit a great deal of money. Money he desperately needs to regain control of his shipping company from John Jacob Astor (See City of Glory: A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan for background details.) Just as Caroline Devrey gives birth to her first son, Nicholas Turner comes to town to take over the medical treatment at Bellevue hospital, the most corrupt place he has could have ever managed to find. Nick's already ahead of the majority of his profession in that he believes in germs and washes his hands before touching any patient, but he needs a place to do real research- real research including dissections of humans (illegal at the time) to find where disease comes from and how to stop it. At first funds are despaired of, since even to get medicine to a patient at Bellevue requires paying the dubious chemists out of your own pocket and the city council is in no mood to change the ruling structure of the hospital. But after an encounter with Sam and Mei-hua in which he saves the young girl's life, Nick finds his distant cousin, who owns him the life of the woman he loves (and his locked lips on the secrets), can fund his research. Now there's only one problem-he's head over heals in love with his cousin's mistreated, neglected and very much unloved wife Caroline. Aside from the main plot City of God: A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York incorporates into it the introduction of ether, making surgery painless and decreasing the chances of dying from shock, as well as the first licensed Jewish doctors, some old friends and a very valuable item from "City of Glory", the development of rural Manhattan into a met

I wholeheartedly recommend this book! It is absolutely engrossing; I could not put it down. You get a true feeling of the story, as if you were watching it unfold before your eyes. The characters have great depth, and the historical details and facts are such a wonderful complement to the story. In addition to the pure enjoyment and excitement of the story, I have learned a lot about old New York. Love it!

I am a huge Swerling fan! It is astonishing that Swerling creates these masterpieces so quickly. Every time you read her work, you think it can't get any better. And it does. If you've never read Swerling's epic tales, start here and you're in for a treat. I bet you go out and buy all the others too. A rich, compelling, exquisite read. Martin Scorsese, miss this at your peril!

I've spent two unforgettable days time traveling. Arriving in New York 1834, and being taken on a thrilling ride through the most glorious city on the planet, with Beverly Swerling as my accomplished guide. She introduced me to a bunch of fantastic characters - my favorite was the magnificent Carolina, a true fighter - and got me thoroughly involved in their lives, all the way to Gettyburg, in 1863. Bits of this book reminded me of James Clavell (Noble House and Shogun)and there's also a hint of Dickens. A real page turner, but be warned... you'll keep telling yourself, 'Just one more chapter, then I'll put it down.' And if you're anything like me, you'll read it in one go, pausing only for sleep.

This is a grand book, written by a grand story-teller. All the texture of the time: different communities thrown together in the city, all equally ambitious - wealthy Dutch and wealthy but circumspect Jews, despised and suspect Catholic nuns stoically caring for those nobody else will care for, homesick Chinese without sight or smell or sound of anything familiar, except in their tiny enclave... -- all rubbing against each other in an uneasy truce. Brilliant characters and complex relationships, male-female, parent-child: Mei-hua, the young Chinese woman with `golden lilies', feet bound in infancy and the instep broken (a detail I did not know, though I come from a country with a large Chinese population, with a display in the National Museum about this custom) who considers herself a princess and first wife, though sold by her father to Samuel Devrey. Devrey himself, such a disordered confusion of east and west - New York born and of good family, growing up in China - that he seems to genuinely love - as much as he is capable of loving - this woman whose mutilation he caused, *because* of her mutilated `golden lily' feet. And who is unmoved by and eventually abusive towards his wife Carolina, the daughter of a wealthy New Yorker and his peer. Then there's their children... And Carolina herself, who is yes bound by her time, but by now means passive, and goes from battered and possibly bigamous wife to one of the powers of the city only to raise a daughter with a mind full of frivolity and lose the girl to a dashing Southerner - just before the civil war comes to separate them... Then there's the mixed-race daughter of the `golden bud', whose life has a unique trajectory leading from an early gilded seclusion with her mother through a convent and relationships good and bad to a battlefield of that same war. Tender and complex relationships: between two doctors - Nicholas Turner, from a family of prominent doctors (and a cousin of Samuel Devrey) and the young Jew, Benjamin Klein, and their wives. And parent-child relationships, even ones drawn relatively briefly, for example that between the Ben Klein (and wife) and his father, also full of tenderness, as well as conflicts about ways of worship, are the homemade cherry preserves kosher or not, and what in the world is the young man doing with his career? And then the next generation, Ben's children, hide runaway slaves without the young doctor's consent. And that's only scratching the surface. I fully intended to pace myself, read a few pages and put the book down and get back to my own work. That idea succeeded a couple of times. I read 20 pages and put it down. Then I picked it up after tea one day for another 20 pages, and presently it was 11 pm and I only realized the time then because I ran out of book to read. (Fortunately my husband was doing dinner that day, and he seems to have put a plate in my hand while I was reading because I wasn't starving at the end, but I honestly don't even reme