Wicked City
Stories of Old New York
by Clifford Browder
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Pub Date Jun 05 2022 | Archive Date Nov 21 2022
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Description
Clifford Browder’s Wicked City is a collection of short fiction featuring a wide range of people surviving, and trying to fully realize themselves, in turbulent nineteenth-century New York. Among them are:
- 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.
Whatever their hopes and fears, Browder’s characters cannot live without New York.
They bear witness to the city’s wild diversity, its intensity, its creativity. They are New York.
Getting to know them, readers will better understand this astonishing metropolis, unique yesterday and unique today, the most exciting city in the world.
Featured Reviews
Kathryn M, Reviewer
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’!”
Aria H, Reviewer
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
Janalyn P, Reviewer
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.
Reviewer 421976
A thoroughly fascinating collection of stories that I really enjoyed reading, would definitely recommend
Reviewer 823951
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
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