A Civil War-era novel "intertwines love, violence, history, adventure and social commentary . . . an invigorating, heartbreaking tale of immigrant experience" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Paradise Alley is the story of three Irish immigrant women who are trapped together in the midst of the Draft Riots-perhaps the bloodiest, most destructive riots in American history. Ruth, married to a black man, tries to shield herself and her children from an abusive former lover. Deirdre, the embodiment of "lace-curtain-Irish" respectability, is desperate for news of her husband Tom, who lies wounded on the battlefield of Gettysburg. And Maddy, a hard-living prostitute, rejects the patronage of the cynical journalist who took her off the streets, recklessly endangering herself and those around her.

Paradise Alley is a searing, historical epic, sweeping from the starving villages of Ireland to riotous streets of New York City and the battlefields of Virginia. It is a story of the intersection of the Irish-and African-American experiences in the crucible of nineteenth-century New York-a story of race and hatred, of love and sacrifice, of fire and war, of risk and dauntless courage.

Kevin Baker is the bestselling author of the novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Sometimes You See It Coming. He is a columnist for American Heritage magazine and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Harper's, and other periodicals. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Ellen Abrams, and their cat, Stella.

They came by boat from a starving land—and by the Underground Railroad from Southern chains—seeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the bottom of a great metropolis. But in the terrible July of 1863, the poor and desperate of Paradise Alley would face a new catastrophe—as flames from the war that was tearing America in two reached out to set their city on fire.