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

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; 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. From Publishers Weekly The tapestry of early American society is hung out for a fresh viewing in this ambitious historical novel of 1660s New Amsterdam. The English Turners are brother and sister, surgeon/barber and apothecary. Devoted to one another, Sally and Lucas quickly learn to make their way in the harsh, prosperous new world, aiding the Dutch governor Stuyvesant's family and making their reputation in the bargain. Then Lucas sells Sally in marriage to Jacob Van der Vries, a cruel, foolish physician, in order to save her life, Lucas says, but she believes it is to buy his lover's freedom to marry, and she never forgives him. This rift begins a feud between the Van der Vries (later Devreys) and Turners that lasts through the American Revolution. Colorful characters vie with historical figures for attention on this broad stage: there's Jennet, Sally's great-granddaughter, who marries a wealthy Jew; Caleb Devrey, Jennet's first cousin, who loved her as a boy, but becomes her bitterest enemy; Morgan, Jennet's son, a privateer and patriot; and Morgan's best friend and former slave, Cuffy, whose fate is bound to Morgan's by love, hate and the same woman the gorgeous Roisin Campbell aka Mistress Healsall. The healing profession is carried down through each generation of Turners and Devreys, and Swerling's descriptions of early operations with crude instruments are detailed and riveting. The city of New York is a character in its own right, but even it cannot compete with the richly drawn, well-rounded people Swerling creates. This engrossing, generously imagined tale deserves the large audience it should find at a time when the founding fathers reign triumphant in biography. (Oct.) Forecast: The size of this hefty debut may actually be a selling point, since it promises an epic tale. The colorful period jacket art should appeal to browsers, too. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Booklist The early history of Manhattan is chronicled through six generations of a remarkable clan of surgeons, physicians, and apothecaries. Hounded out of England for illegally practicing surgery, gifted Lucas Turner and his sister, Sally, immigrate to the New World. Landing in New Amsterdam in 1661, Lucas employs a combination of daring and skill to establish his reputation as a surgeon, and Sally begins planting and gathering the herbs, plants, and flowers she needs to concoct the medicinal potions and drugs necessary for his practice. Though their future seems bright, the arrival of an unscrupulous and inept Dutch physician threatens both their security and their relationship. When Jacob Van der Vies succeeds in his vile blackmail effort, he causes an irreparable rift between the two siblings. For more than 100 years, the Turner and the Van der Vies branches of the family participate in both the evolution of the art and science of medicine and the transition of Manhattan from a fledgling colonial outpost to a bustling, thriving metropolis on the brink of revolution. Margaret Flanagan Copyright В© American Library Association. All rights reserved

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.

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, 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.