The Given Day - Softcover

Gut-wrenching force . . . [a] stunning historical novel. . . . [Lehane] has written a majestic, fiery epic that moves him far beyond the confines of the crime genre. Shades of Doctorow and Dreiser surround Mr. Lehane s choice of 1919 as the time for this expansive story. It is not simply the relatively unexplored eventfulness of that year that makes THE GIVEN DAY so far reaching; it s the relentless fierce-terrible nature of the turmoil on parade. . . . Mr. Lehane illustrates with such sweep and agility. . . . Enthralling drama. . . . [A] highly charged atmosphere. . . . Mr. Lehane signals the questions of fairness, conscience, fame, power, and tactical maneuvering that shape his panoramic story. . . . Such insight and intimate familiarity. . . . It s almost possible to forget what Mr. Lehane can ignite when tempers mount, storms gather, and unimaginably savage violence ruptures any veneer of civilized society. Not for nothing are bomb-throwing anarchists at the hears of this rich, intricate story. Once the cauldron boils over, THE GIVEN DAY becomes a wrenchingly suspenseful book. It triggers grim certainty that Mr. Lehane s tenderly drawn players will not survive the events that envelop them. . . . A deeply felt novel of political cowardice and corruption. . . . Mr. Lehane renders [the strike] with staggering fury. The searing precision with which the books describes this devastation is one of its great strengths. . . . But that quiet horror, reminiscent as it is of the best of Mystic River, is by no means this book s sole source of strength. THE GIVEN DAY is a huge, impassioned, intensively researched book that brings history alive by grounding the present in the lessons of the past. (New York Times)

Home run. . . . Great pulp storytelling. (Time magazine)

[Lehane] brings vividly to life the struggles that the working classes faced in pursuit of decent working conditions and a fair wage. (The New Yorker)

In his long-awaited eighth novel, filled with the same suspenseful storytelling that shot Mystic River and Shutter Island to the top of the charts, award-winning author Dennis Lehane again puts all of his literary talents on display. The Great War is ending; the Bolsheviks are overthrowing the Tsar, the Kaiser is running roughshod over Europe, and the Spanish influenza is beginning its deadly rampage. On American shores, communist and socialist movements are swelling in numbers and anarchists are tossing bombs in the street. Harsh labor conditions, barrel-bottom pay, and the disenfranchisement of the working class have branded Strike! onto the national consciousness. Set in an era of unprecedented uncertainty, THE GIVEN DAY tells the story of those who learn the true consequences of demanding change of asserting one s worth in a world bent on devaluing one s time and effort; of building common good from astonishing feats of uncommon strength; and of asking not to accept the way of the world, but to remake it.