And then when the heroine Beatrice begins 'transmitting so subtly that none of them even realized she was doing it' I began to wonder if I was reading science fiction. The scene in which the Whyos and WhyNots 'began their work, each one trasmitting his or her message to a specific jury member via signals that were barely audible, barely even distinguishable from their breath' was just too much to believe. I really had difficulty buying into the idea of a gang communicating through singing, humming, or whatever they called it. However, it's not Paradise Alley or Dreamland. I loved Paradise Alley and Dreamland, so this seemed to fall in place especially after reading some of the editorial reviews. I'm a fan of historical fiction set in New York. 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.Metropolismarks a superb fiction debut.

Epic in sweep,Metropolisfollows 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. 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. 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. Barnum’s stable, where he works and sleeps, and soon finds himself at the center of a citywide arson investigation.

On a freezing night in the middle of winter, Gaffney’s nameless hero is suddenly awakened by a fire in P. Elizabeth Gaffney’s magnificent, DickensianMetropoliscaptures 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.

Metropolis by Elizabeth Gaffney