From Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River and Shutter Island, comes the paperback edition of The Given Day, an unflinching family epic that captures the political unrest of a nation caught between a well-patterned past and an unpredictable future. This beautifully written novel of American history tells the story of two familiesone black, one whiteswept up in a maelstrom of revolutionaries and anarchists, immigrants and ward bosses, Brahmins and ordinary citizens, all engaged in a battle for survival and power at the end of World War I.
Review
[Lehane] deserves to be included among the most interesting and accomplished American novelists of any genre or category. . . . A powerful moment in history, and Lehane makes the most of it. . . . Heartfelt and moving. (Washington Post Book World )
This may be Lehanes finest work. . . . But The Given Day is more than a history lesson. . . . Lehane captures the essence of being American in a fast-changing society that eerily reflects our own. (USA Today )
The Given Day is a vast historical novel. . . . Spectacular details. . . . Finely thought-out. . . . . Many stunningly managed scenes. (Boston Globe )
Steeped in history but wearing its research lightly, The Given Day is a meaty, rich, old-fashioned and satisfying tale. Id call it Lehanes masterpiece. (Seattle Times )
Superbly written, meticulously researched. . . . A thoughtful, provocative exploration of race, fame, power, and political corruption in American culture. . . . The Given Day places [Lehane] in the first rank of modern American novelists. (Associated Press )
Gut-wrenching force. . . . A majestic, fiery epic. . . . The Given Day is a huge, impassioned, intensively researched book that brings history alive. (New York Times )
[A] work of admirable ambition and scope. . . . Lehane is as much like contemporaries George Pelecanos and Richard Price as he is like the bygone Boston-based John P. Marquand, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. (Los Angeles Times Book Review )
One of the falls biggest booksand not just because its 704 pages. Its Lehanes most ambitious and literary work. (USA Today )
A splendid flowering of the talent previously demonstrated in his crime fiction. . . . A vision of redemption and a triumph of the human spirit. In short, this nail-biter carries serious moral gravity. (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )
Brilliantly constructed. . . . Like E. L. Doctorow in Ragtime, Lehane captures the sense of a country coming of age, vividly dramatizing how the conflicting emotions and tortured dreams that drive individual human lives also send a nation roiling forward. (Booklist (starred review) )
Lehanes first historical novel is a clear winner. . . . As good as it gets. (Library Journal (starred review) )
A historical epic that is easily the most ambitious work of Dennis Lehanes career. . . . THE GIVEN DAY aspires to be nothing less than the Great American Novel. . . . If Lehane was ever a singles hitter, now hes swinging for the fences. (Kirkus Reviews )
The problem falls to readers to find somethinganythingthat doesnt pale in comparison once theyve closed the covers on this 720-page masterpiece. Quite simply, THE GIVEN DAY is about as close to the great American novel as were likely to read until ... well, until Lehane writes another. (BookPage )
If youre swinging for the fences, it only makes sense that your novel begin with a lengthy, and very tasty, story about Babe Ruth. That Dennis Lehane sustains that level of play . . . is what gives THE GIVEN DAY a kind of greatness. . . . Lehane dazzles. (Chicago Sun-Times )
Heres one way to get people excited about the nations past: Get Dennis Lehane to write the history books. . . . A meticulously researched tale that in the hands of this master storyteller jumps right off the page and hollers. (St. Petersburg Times )
As much a thriller as any of Lehanes previous work. Even beyond the historical events, THE GIVEN DAY qualifies as a sprawling, sweeping epic. . . . Lehanes masterful packing and precise prose make the story speed by. (Orlando Sentinel )
Packed with dramatic turning points. . . . Lehane has tried to capture the zeitgeist of an era even nuttier and more tumultuous than our own, and succeeded. (Entertainment Weekly )
A gripping historical novel. . . . Infused with the same dark drama that set apart his earlier books. (Parade )
Rollicking, brawling, gritty, political, and always completely absorbing, THE GIVEN DAY is a rich and satisfying epic. Readers, get ready to feast. This is a big book you wont want to put down. (Stewart O'Nan, author of Last Night at the Lobster, A Prayer for the Dying, and Snow Angels )
A brawling, brawny, muscular epicexactly what great mainstream novels used to be. (Lee Child )
About the Author
Dennis Lehane is the author of nine novelsincluding the New York Times bestsellers Moonlight Mile; Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River; Shutter Island; and The Given Dayas well as Coronado, a collection of short stories and a play. He and his wife, Angie, divide their time between Boston and the Gulf Coast of Florida.