The Banished Children of Eve : A Novel of Civil War New York

In Banished Children of Eve, Quinn presents a lavishly praised novel of a great American city in crisis.The Civil War has just entered its third bloody year and the North is about to impose its first military draft, a decision that in New York City will spark the most devastating and destructive riot in American history. Peter Quinn, acclaimed author of Looking for Jimmy and Hour of the Cat, relates the events of this tumultuous time through the lives of people drawn from every part of the city's teeming streets: an opportunistic but likable Irish-American hustler, a scheming Yankee stockbroker, an immigrant serving girl, a beautiful mulatto actress, her white minstrel lover, and a cluster of historical figures from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to Stephen Foster. The fates of these characters coalesce in the cataclysm of the Draft Riots, as Quinn magically brings to life a pivotal period in this country's history. The Civil War has just entered its third bloody year and the North is about to impose its first military draft, a decision that in New York City will spark the most devastating and destructive riot in American history. Peter Quinn, acclaimed author of Looking for Jimmy and Hour of the Cat, relates the events of this tumultuous time through the lives of people drawn from every part of the city’s teeming streets: an opportunistic but likable Irish-American hustler, a scheming Yankee stockbroker, an immigrant serving girl, a beautiful mulatto actress, her white minstrel lover, and a cluster of historical figures from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to Stephen Foster. The fates of these characters coalesce in the cataclysm of the Draft Riots, as Quinn magically brings to life a pivotal period in this country’s history. Set at the time of the 1863 Draft Riots in NewYork City, the novel follows Irish immigrants as they try to avoid Civil War conscription while battling blacks they fear are taking their jobs. There is a romance between an Irish actor who plays blacks in minstrel shows and a black actress