by Colum McCann
First published 1998
In the early 1900s, a Georgia man named Nathan Walker journeys to New York City for the most dangerous job in America: digging the underground tunnel under the East River. As he and his fellow sandhogs, black and white, toil together beneath the waves, an accident forges an unexpected bond. Decades later, a homeless man named Treefrog survives the brutal cold of the subway tunnels, recounting his harrowing tale of survival. Between these two stories stretch seventy years of love, crime, and social taboos - a sweeping saga of family, race, and the hope of redemption.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, social-commentary
Setting: New York (N.Y.)
Period: Early 1900s, Decades Later
304 pages · Hardcover · Metropolitan Books