Empire Rising

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Historical, Literary
Cover of the book Empire Rising by Thomas Kelly, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Thomas Kelly ISBN: 9781466825307
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: January 24, 2006
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Thomas Kelly
ISBN: 9781466825307
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: January 24, 2006
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

A Novel of High-Stakes Romance and Betrayal, Set During the Race to Finish the World's Tallest Building

In Empire Rising, his extraordinary third book, Thomas Kelly tells a story of love and work, of intrigue and jealousy, with the narrative verve that led the Village Voice's reviewer to dub him "Dostoevsky with a hard hat and lead pipe."
As the novel opens, it is 1930-the Depression-and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men erecting the building high above the city is Michael Briody, an Irish immigrant torn between his desire to make a new life in America and his pledge to gather money and arms for the Irish republican cause. When he meets Grace Masterson, an alluring artist who is depicting the great skyscraper's ascent from her houseboat on the East River, Briody's life turns exhilarating-and dangerous, for Grace is also a paramour of Johnny Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker's liaison with Tammany Hall and the underworld.
Their heartbreaking love story-which takes place both in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Bronx and amid the swanky nightlife of the '21' Club--is also a chronicle of the city's rough passage from a working-class enclave to a world-class metropolis, and a vivid reimagining of the conflict that pitted the Tammany Hall political machine and its popular mayor against the boundlessly ambitious Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Colin Harrison, in The New York Times Book Review, called Kelly's The Rackets "A well-paced, violent thriller, [and] an elegy for the city's old Irish working class." In Empire Rising, Kelly takes his work to a new level: telling of the story of the people who built the "eighth wonder of the world," he makes old New York the setting for a rich and unforgettable story.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A Novel of High-Stakes Romance and Betrayal, Set During the Race to Finish the World's Tallest Building

In Empire Rising, his extraordinary third book, Thomas Kelly tells a story of love and work, of intrigue and jealousy, with the narrative verve that led the Village Voice's reviewer to dub him "Dostoevsky with a hard hat and lead pipe."
As the novel opens, it is 1930-the Depression-and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men erecting the building high above the city is Michael Briody, an Irish immigrant torn between his desire to make a new life in America and his pledge to gather money and arms for the Irish republican cause. When he meets Grace Masterson, an alluring artist who is depicting the great skyscraper's ascent from her houseboat on the East River, Briody's life turns exhilarating-and dangerous, for Grace is also a paramour of Johnny Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker's liaison with Tammany Hall and the underworld.
Their heartbreaking love story-which takes place both in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Bronx and amid the swanky nightlife of the '21' Club--is also a chronicle of the city's rough passage from a working-class enclave to a world-class metropolis, and a vivid reimagining of the conflict that pitted the Tammany Hall political machine and its popular mayor against the boundlessly ambitious Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Colin Harrison, in The New York Times Book Review, called Kelly's The Rackets "A well-paced, violent thriller, [and] an elegy for the city's old Irish working class." In Empire Rising, Kelly takes his work to a new level: telling of the story of the people who built the "eighth wonder of the world," he makes old New York the setting for a rich and unforgettable story.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book The Guilty Plea by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Duet for Cannibals by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book A Gambling Man by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Beethoven in Paradise by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Betjeman by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Tractor Mac Farm Days by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Franco's Crypt by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book The Heart Broke In by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book The Monroe Doctrine by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book The 57 Bus by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Standing Up to Mr. O. by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Later the Same Day by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book The Art of the Publisher by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Endeavour by Thomas Kelly
Cover of the book Neutrino Hunters by Thomas Kelly
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy