Beverly Swerling

In 1661, Lucas Turner, a barber surgeon, and his sister, Sally, an apothecary, stagger off a small wooden ship after eleven weeks at sea. Bound to each other by blood and necessity, they aim to make a fresh start in the rough and rowdy Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam; but soon lust, betrayal, and murder will make them mortal enemies. In their struggle to survive in the New World, Lucas and Sally make choices that will burden their descendants with a legacy of secrets and retribution, and create a heritage that sets cousin against cousin, physician against surgeon, and, ultimately, patriot against Tory. In what will be the greatest city in the New World, the fortunes of these two families are inextricably entwined by blood and fire in an unforgettable American saga of pride and ambition, love and hate, and the becoming of the dream that is New York City.

A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan

City of Dreams

In the tradition of Kate Mosse, a swiftly-paced mystery that stretches from modern London to Tudor England In modern-day London, architectural historian and recovering alcoholic Annie Kendall hopes to turn her life around and restart her career by locating several long-missing pieces of ancient Judaica. Geoff Harris, an investigative reporter, is soon drawn into her quest, both by romantic interest and suspicions about the head of the Shalom Foundation, the organization sponsoring her work. He’s also a dead ringer for the ghost of a monk Annie believes she has seen at the flat she is subletting in Bristol House. In 1535, Tudor London is a very different city, one in which monks are being executed by Henry VIII and Jews are banished. In this treacherous environment of religious persecution, Dom Justin, a Carthusian monk, and a goldsmith known as the Jew of Holborn must navigate a shadowy world of intrigue involving Thomas Cromwell, Jewish treasure, and sexual secrets. Their struggles shed light on the mysteries Annie and Geoff aim to puzzle out—at their own peril. This riveting dual-period narrative seamlessly blends a haunting supernatural thriller with vivid historical fiction. Beverly Swerling, widely acclaimed for her City of Dreams series, delivers a bewitching and epic story of a historian and a monk, half a millennium apart, whose destinies are on a collision course.

A Novel

Bristol House

Bristol house

In the years following the Civil War, as Manhattan experiences a surge in prosperity, Joshua Turner aspires to become a real-estate titan while Mollie Brannigan, raised by her aunt in a bordello, sees her life change after a chance encounter with Joshua in Macy's.

A Novel of New York's Gilded Age

City of Promise

The enthralling sequel to "City of Dreams" is set during the War of 1812, when New York trembles on the brink of becoming a city of incomparable riches, and extraordinary men and women fight and scheme their way to glory.

A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan

City of Glory

From the author of the acclaimed novel City of Dreams, the passionate story of Quentin Hale and Nicole Crane, set against the bloody and turbulent backdrop of the French and Indian War. 1754. In a low-lying glen in Ohio Country, where both the French and English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of a savage seven-year conflict destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution. In a world on the brink of astonishing change are Quentin Hale, the fearless gentleman-turned-scout, fighting to preserve his beloved family plantation, Shadowbrook; Cormac Shea, the part-Irish, part-Indian woodsman with a foot in both worlds; and the beautiful Nicole Crane, who, struggling to reconcile her love for Hale and her calling to the convent, becomes a pawn in the British quest for territory. Moving between the longhouses of the Iroquois and Shadowbrook's elegant rooms, the frontier's virgin forests and the cobbled streets of Québec, Swerling weaves a tale of passion and intrigue, faith and devotion, courage and betrayal. Peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters and historical figures, including a young George Washington, this richly textured novel vividly captures the conflict that opened the eighteenth century and ignited our nation's quest for independence. A classic in the making, Shadowbrook is a page-turning tale of ambition, war, and the transforming power of both love and duty.

A Novel of Love, War, and the Birth of America

Shadowbrook

A sweeping tale of love, ambition, and a war that ignited a revolution... 1754. In a low-lying glen in Ohio Country, where both the French and English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of a savage seven-year conflict destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution. In a world on the brink of astonishing change are Quentin Hale, the fearless gentleman-turned-scout, fighting to preserve his beloved family plantation, Shadowbrook; Cormac Shea, the part-Irish, part-Indian woodsman with a foot in both worlds; and the beautiful Nicole Crane, who, struggling to reconcile her love for Hale and her calling to the convent, becomes a pawn in the British quest for territory. Moving between the longhouses of the Iroquois and Shadowbrook's elegant rooms, the frontier's virgin forests and the cobbled streets of Québec, Swerling weaves a tale of passion and intrigue, faith and devotion, courage and betrayal. Peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters and historical figures, including a young George Washington, this richly textured novel vividly captures the conflict that opened the eighteenth century and ignited our nation's quest for independence. A classic in the making, Shadowbrook is a page-turning tale of ambition, war, and the transforming power of both love and duty.

a novel of the Gilded Age

City of promise

City of God, the latest installment in Beverly Swerling's gripping saga of old New York, takes readers to Manhattan's clamorous streets as the nation struggles to find a compromise between slave and free, but hears the drums of war. This is New York when one synagogue is no longer adequate for thousands of Jewish immigrants, when New Evangelicals rouse complacent Protestants with the promise of born-again salvation, and when it first sees Catholic nuns and calls them whores of Satan. It is New York when ships bring the fabulous wealth of nations to its wharves and auction houses, while a short distance away rival gangs fight to the death with broken bottles and teeth filed to points. Into this churning cauldron comes young Dr. Nicholas Turner. Nick knows that the discoveries of antisepsis and anesthesia promise medical miracles beyond the dreams of ages. He learns that to make such progress reality he must battle the city's corrupt politics and survive the snake pit that is Bellevue Hospital, all while resisting his love for the beautiful Carolina Devrey, his cousin's wife. Sam Devrey, head of the shipping company that bears his name and a visionary who believes the future will be ushered in by mighty clipper ships spreading acres of sail, battles demons of his own. The life he lives with Carolina in the elegant brownstone on newly fashionable Fifth Avenue is a charade meant to disguise his heart's true home, the secret downtown apartment of the exquisite Mei-hua, his Chinese child-bride. The worlds of all four are imperiled when Sam must rely on Nick's skills to save the woman he loves, and only Nick's honor guards Sam's secret. On a night when promises of hellfire seem to become reality and the city nearly burns to the ground, Carolina and Mei-hua confront the truth of their duplicitous marriages. Rage and revenge join love and passion as driving forces in a story played out against the background of the glittering New York that rises from the ashes, where Delmonico's and the Astor House host bejeweled women and top-hatted men, both with the din of commerce in their ears and the glint of gold in their eyes. As always, Swerling has conjured a dazzling cast of characters to people her city. Among those seeking born-again salvation are Addie Bellingham, befriended by the widow Manon Turner but willing to betray her, and Lilac Langton, who confesses her sins but avoids mentioning that she's a skilled abortionist in a city that has recently made abortion a crime. Ben Klein, a brilliant young physician, must balance devotion to his mentor and dedication to research with duty to the Jewish community. Wilbur Randolf, Carolina's father, indulges her in everything but fails her when she needs him most. Jenny Worthington, Wilbur's longtime mistress, is driven by avarice to make common cause with Fearless Flannagan, a member of a New York police force as corrupt as the city it serves. Ah Chee, Mei-hua's devoted servant, struggles through Manhattan's streets on bound feet and burns incense to the kitchen god in this place of foreign devils. They are all here, heroines and saints, villains and victims, and a vanished New York made to live again in an intricate tale of old debts and new rivalries.

A Novel of Passion and Wonder in Old New York

City of God

New York's first Jewish lawyer battles such challenges as corrupt Tammany politicians, evangelical preachers, and opium-smoking doctors in the years prior to the Civil War.

In 1661 a brother and sister stagger off a small wooden ship after eleven perilous weeks at sea to seek a new life in the Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam. Lucas Turner is a barber surgeon; Sally Turner an apothecary. Both gifted healers, they are bound to each other by blood and necessity, but as their new lives unfold betrayal and murder make them deadly enemies. Their descendants dedicated physicians and surgeons, pirates and whoremasters will shape the future of medicine and the growing city of Manhattan, but none can escape a vengeful legacy.CITY OF DREAMS charts the destiny of the Turner and the Devreys families one English, one Dutch against the backdrop of a city where black slaves are burned alive on Wall Street, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams walk the Broad Way arguing America's destiny, and one of the greatest hospitals in the world will be born in a former shipwright's workshops by the East River.

In the tradition of Edward Rutherford, an epic tale that interweaves the fate of two pioneering families with the birth of Manhattan, a new nation’s city of dreams ... In 1661 a brother and sister stagger off a ship to seek a new life in the Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam. Lucas Turner is a barber surgeon; Sally Turner an apothecary. Both gifted healers, they are bound to each other by blood and necessity but as their new lives unfold, betrayal and murder make them deadly enemies. Their descendents - dedicated physicians and surgeons, pirates and whoremasters - will shape the future of medicine and a new city. Interweaving the fate of two pioneering families with a young country's struggle for freedom and the birth of modern medicine, this is an unforgettable tale told by a master storyteller.

City Of Dreams

Forts. von äDer Traum des Badersä. - New York, Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts: Der scheidige Draufgänger Morgan Turner und sein Cousin Andrew, ein Chirurg, werden in den brutalen Unabhängigkeitskrieg zwischen Amerikanern und Briten hineingezogen.

Beverly Swerling

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