First published 2016
William Hamilton-Sweeney broke from his wealthy Manhattan family during his teenage years and now lives in Hell's Kitchen with his boyfriend Mercer, a Georgia-born teacher chasing dreams of writing the Great American Novel. His sister Regan remains embedded in New York's elite circles, navigating her separation from husband Keith while confronting a brewing family scandal. Meanwhile, suburban teenagers Charlie and Samantha fall under the spell of Lower Manhattan's radical underground culture, where Patti Smith's music echoes through the streets. The siblings haven't spoken in over a decade, but a shooting in Central Park on New Year's Eve 1976 forces all these characters into each other's orbits. As summer 1977 approaches, the city hurtles toward the famous blackout that will reshape everything. Set against the gritty backdrop of 1970s New York, this sweeping story captures a moment when the city teetered between collapse and reinvention, exploring how family bonds endure even when everything else falls apart.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen, Central Park, Lower Manhattan
Period: 1976, 1977
984 pages · Paperback · Literatura Random House