To show us the history of the city, Hamill most cleverly created an immortal Irish character, Cormac O'Connor. The story starts in Ireland where Cormac is a child living under English Protestant rule, but secretly schooled in the Gaelic religion. This part of the book was absolutely fascinating, taking me into a world I have never read of before this time. Cormac comes to New York City, and at that time is granted eternal life provided he does not leave Manhattan. This contrived situation acts as a great setting for the author to share the history of New York City with his readers.
This book was imaginatively constructed, entertaining and educational. Hamill wove his tale with care. It was quite fun to be introduced in a fictional setting to indentured slavery, the black slave trade, the American Revolution, the cholera epidemic, Boss Tweed and his group of faithful political crooks and even more. The book seemed a bit choppy as it went from one sub plot to the next, with the setting moving forward in time often in great leaps and bounds, but if viewed as a collection of time glimpses into NYC, it was quite nice.
Other acclaimed books he has written that aren't quite such a reading commitment (this was a 640 pager) are A Drinking Life
Hamill has a nice web site, http://www.petehamill.com/, where you can catch some video and get to know a little more about this prolific author and his latest works. He knows NYC, and writes about what he knows!
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