by Shaba Ranks

Created on: July 21, 2010   Last Updated: July 22, 2010

This is the best novel I have read lately. I have read a lot of novels this past summer, recommended by our Book Club for us to read and discuss, but most of them are depressing, boring and not well written. Pete Hamill pens so well he brings you into the scene and the characters and it's difficult to put it down.

The novel begins right out with Dr. James Delaney, a general practitioner in Greenwich Village during the Great Depression, receiving an unexpected package delivered to his doorstep. His daughter has left her son in Delaney's sole care as she goes off to Spain in hunt of her rogue husband. Dr. Delaney hires an Italian nanny, Rose, to give care for the boy while he meets patients and makes house calls. His grandson and Rose soon win him over. Unluckily, matters get complicated for Delany fast. His war buddy, now a gangster dwelling in his neighborhood, requires medical attention and Delaney is the one who aids him out. All of a sudden, the doctor discovers himself in the center of a mob war. The lives of his beloved grandson and even Rose are in danger. The doctor, already grief-stricken over the mysterious fade of his wife, is determined to keep them all safe, at any expense.

Great suspense! Will the daughter get back and recover her son? Will his wife ever be found? Will Rose and Dr. Delaney ever display their affection for one another? DEAR GOD, IS anybody GOING TO GET SHOT? Dr. Delaney even has issues with the feds, who are pushy under the direction of a very persistent J. Edgar Hoover.

The main role of the story, as is with all Hamill's tales, is the city of New York, at one time brutal and unforgiving only to be full of promise and restoration around the next corner, in the safe atmosphere of a small Italian cafe.

My one annoyance with the book was that I never warmed up to Rose. I ascertained her dramatic and annoying. However, I respected the characters of James Delaney and his perfectly depicted grandson enough to accept her as part of their lives. For some reason, she made them euphoric.

Pete Hamill is a writer. And generally, if you're a writer, your work tells the tale, you do not have to promote it, nor  brag about it

An excellent book! Fully absorbing. Highly recommended.

Learn more about this author, Shaba Ranks.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.