Old New York. 01 : City of dreams : a novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and early Manhattan

A sweeping epic of two families—one Dutch, one English—from the time when New Amsterdam was a raw and rowdy settlement, to the triumph of the Revolution, when New York became a new nation’s city of dreams. In 1661, Lucas Turner, a barber surgeon, and his sister, Sally, an apothecary, stagger off a small wooden ship after eleven weeks at sea. Bound to each other by blood and necessity, they aim to make a fresh start in the rough and rowdy Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam; but soon lust, betrayal, and murder will make them mortal enemies. In their struggle to survive in the New World, Lucas and Sally make choices that will burden their descendants with a legacy of secrets and retribution, and create a heritage that sets cousin against cousin, physician against surgeon, and, ultimately, patriot against Tory. In what will be the greatest city in the New World, the fortunes of these two families are inextricably entwined by blood and fire in an unforgettable American saga of pride and ambition, love and hate, and the becoming of the dream that is New York City.

In 1661, a brother and sister staggered off a small wooden ship after eleven perilous weeks at sea to seek a new life in the Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam. Bound to each other by blood and necessity, gifted healers both, as their new lives unfold, betrayal and murder will make them deadly enemies. Their descendents — dedicated physicians and surgeons, pirates and whoremasters — will shape the future of medicine and the growing city. City of Dreams follows the stories of the Turners and the DeVreys in a city where slaves were burned alive on Wall Street, where James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams walked the Broad Way arguing America's destiny, and where one of the greatest hospitals in the world would be born in a former shipwright's workshops by the East River. Set against the panorama of a young country's struggle for freedom, rich in history and medical detail, it is an enthralling tale told by a master storyteller.

Los Angeles Times - Mark Rozzo

This whopping saga, which chronicles the rough-and-tumble goings-on of colonial Manhattan, opens in eye-catching fashion.

"In 1661, Lucas Tanner, a barber surgeon, and his sister, Sally, an apothecary, stagger off a small wooden ship after eleven weeks at sea. Bound to each other by blood and necessity, they aim to make a fresh start in the rough and rowdy Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam; soon lust, betrayal, and murder will make them mortal enemies. In their struggle to survive in the New World, Lucas and Sally make choices that will burden their descendents with a legacy of secrets and retribution, and create a heritage that sets cousin against cousin, physician against surgeon, and ultimately, patriot against Tory."--Back cover In 1661, Lucas Tanner, a barber surgeon, and his sister Sally, an apothecary, arrive in the rowdy Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam, and soon lust, betrayal, and murder make them mortal enemies. The choices they make will burden their descendants with a legacy of secrets and retribution, and create a heritage that sets cousin against cousin, physician against surgeon, and, ultimately, patriot against Tory Lucas Turner and his sister Sally, both gifted healers, come to Niew Amsterdam in 1661. The two become enemies and make choices that effect their families for generations This is an epic story that follows the lives of two families through the centuries beginning in the 1600's in Dutch New Amsterdam, later to become the English New York. ELEVEN WEEKS IN a ship thirty-seven feet long by eleven wide, carrying a crew of nine as well as twenty passengers.