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"Ravage & Son reflects the lost world of Manhattan's Lower East Side-the cradle of Jewish immigration during the first years of the twentieth century-in a dark mirror. Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, serves as the conscience of the Jewish ghetto teeming with rogue cops and swindlers. He rescues Ben Ravage, an orphan, from a trade school and sends him off to Harvard to earn a law degree. But upon his return, Ben rejects the chance to escape his gritty origins and instead becomes a detective for the Kehilla, a quixotic gang backed by wealthy uptown patrons to help the police rid the Lower East Side of criminals. Charged with rooting out the Jewish "Mr. Hyde," a half-mad villain who attacks the prostitutes of Allen Street, Ben discovers that his fate is irrevocably tied to that of this violent, sinister man. A lurid tale of revenge, this wildly evocative, suspenseful noir is vintage Jerome Charyn"--
About the author
Jerome Charyn is the author of more than fifty works of fiction and nonfiction, including
Maria La Divina;
Ravage & Son;
Sergeant Salinger;
Cesare: A Novel of War-Torn Berlin;
In the Shadow of King Saul: Essays on Silence and Song;
Jerzy: A Novel; and
A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century. Among other honors, his work has been longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award and PEN Award for Biography, shortlisted for the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award, and selected as a finalist for the Firecracker Award and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Film Culture at the American University of Paris, Charyn has also been named a Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture and received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Manhattan.
Summary
A master storyteller’s novel of crime, corruption, and antisemitism in early 20th-century Manhattan
Ravage & Son reflects the lost world of Manhattan’s Lower East Side—the cradle of Jewish immigration during the first years of the twentieth century—in a dark mirror.
Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, serves as the conscience of the Jewish ghetto teeming with rogue cops and swindlers. He rescues Ben Ravage, an orphan, from a trade school and sends him off to Harvard to earn a law degree. But upon his return, Ben rejects the chance to escape his gritty origins and instead becomes a detective for the Kehilla, a quixotic gang backed by wealthy uptown patrons to help the police rid the Lower East Side of criminals. Charged with rooting out the Jewish “Mr. Hyde,” a half-mad villain who attacks the prostitutes of Allen Street, Ben discovers that his fate is irrevocably tied to that of this violent, sinister man.
A lurid tale of revenge, this wildly evocative, suspenseful noir is vintage Jerome Charyn.
Foreword
Co-op availableSignificant bound galley mailing to media, booksellers, and librarians. Additional digital review copy distribution to media, booksellers, and librarians through Edelweiss National print, public radio, and online media campaigns Author statement available in press materialAuthor appearances in New York, NYSimultaneous eBook publication and promotionPostcards availableEarly outreach and giveaways through LibraryThing Promotion through BLP’s social media channels and website: www.blpress.orgPromotion through the author’s social media channels, including Twitter (@jeromecharyn) and Facebook (@jerome.charyn)Editor: Erika GoldmanAgent: Georges Borchardt of Georges Borchardt, Inc.Cover designer: Peter SelginMarketing and publicity efforts supported by Molly Mikolowski of A Literary Light
