An ambitious young man given the rare opportunity to marry his boss’s daughter and advance in the firm, the only drawback being his secret preference for brief sexual encounters with men;
A cartman hired to transport the anatomical collection of a respected professor of surgery, including a corpse in embalming fluid that, if discovered by the public, might well cause a riot;
A young Chinaman who witnesses the murder of a compatriot and must decide how to survive and thrive among these savage round-faced barbarians;
A woman so unnerved by the sinister growth of her garden that she asks her pastor to perform a full-blown exorcism;
A ragpicker trudging the streets in a snowstorm who fights off drowsiness and fatigue with grandiose fantasies, bitter memories, and a desperate plea to her deceased mother for healing;
A buckskinned Westerner with a Sioux arrow through his hat who dazzles the city with his stories of grizzlies and buffalo hunts and wild women, while limping sometimes with one leg and sometimes with the other.

A great collection of books

this was such an amazing book! i'm so thankful to netgalley for letting me read this one early! it was so much fun and intriguing!! what a fun, fun, fun read!!!!

A thoroughly fascinating collection of stories that I really enjoyed reading, would definitely recommend

Oooo! What a slick collection of grimy, gruesome peeks under the golden veneer of the Gilded Age! The prose and tales in Wicked City are as smooth as the criminal characters in its pages, which is to say, if you, Reader, are a fan of urban grit and historical fiction, then this is the collection of stories for you. Wicked City reads like a literary revision of The Gangs of New York, but instead of Daniel Day Lewis, the lead is a very chic Edith Wharton — if Edith had a side hustle as a brothel Madam and if the brothel was run out of the Waldorf Hotel.

Make of that what you will. (I love Edith Wharton’s refined snark and the grubbiness of Gangs of New York.)

The stories in Wicked City are historical, but some things have been updated since the actual Gilded Age. Many of the tales are infused with modern sensibilities, that is, there are more enlightened notions around race, racism, class, and gender in these pages than perhaps there were in history. For example, Browder includes tales from Chinatown and addresses interracial marriage. Jingoism and nativism abound and are present, but Browder does justice to history by highlighting the non-White version of events in his fictions.

Many of the stories interweave, though some of the connections are subtle; there is a sense of dispersed, urban community woven throughout the collection. True to Browder’s work, this is an homage to New York and its history.

Anyone who likes escaping into the 1800s will love these stories by Clifford Browder from a safe cracker to a homeless healer the stories will tantalize your imagination and entertain you. There’s a lot of stories in this book and I can honestly say I love all of them and highly recommend it. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This was a book that focused on mid-late 19th century New York City, through short stories focusing on characters and experiences for a wide array of New Yorkers from different classes and backgrounds. It is divided into different themes under which the stories fall, with 2-4 stories per theme. The stories were not connected, but with all being set in New York, and predominantly around Broadway, it was an interesting way to think of how different lives intersect with each other, even if they never outright cross paths.

The writing style is easy to read and engaging, and keeps you reading with interest in seeing what comes next. The stories I enjoyed the most from the collection were Snow, Guest of the Golden Mountain and The Ladies and the Brewery.

Considering the time and the setting what I did miss were stories set within the Jewish and the Italian communities, as at the time they also had a great deal of presence in New York City, and it would have been good to see the same period from a story within those points of view.

Overall an enjoyable collection, and should Browder release another in the same style I would gladly read it.

A really interesting collection of short stories all with great settings and atmopshere. They were all equally well written and the characters were well developed for the short story format. I enjoyed them

this was a great collection of stories, I loved the concept of the New York stories. It was really well done and each story got better and better. I really enjoyed this historical fiction collection. Clifford Browder has a great written style and it was what I wanted it to be.

"In service some of the girls crisped into spinsters, but most of them sparked with impertinence: “Until now I’ve been in only the most elegant houses, but niver before was I axed to fetch trays upstairs of a mornin’!”

This isn't a review but I am not sure how to tell the publisher that this book would not download on EPUB. I keep getting an error come up and this book can not be downloaded message. I would really like to read this book, so perhaps you can look into it.