North River

Pete Hamill's story of a disillusioned Depression-era doctor is notably enhanced by Henry Strozier's magnificent narration. Dr. Delaney's wife took a walk and never came home. Then his daughter abandoned her 3-year-old son, Carlito, on his doorstep. When a beautiful Sicilian woman, Rose, arrives to care for Carlito and becomes Delaney's lover, he suddenly has a family. Strozier's portrayal of Delaney is honest and mature, and you never doubt that Rose is a warm Sicilian woman. Strozier's Carlito is a sweet little boy, not an adult trying to sound like a little boy. This is an audiobook that shines as a masterful marriage of the written and spoken word. M.T.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 23, 2007
T
he North River is what real New Yorkers call the Hudson. Two blocks from its shore, Dr. James Finbar Delaney lives on Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. He is a GP, servicing the indigent poor. A wounded veteran of World War I, he is despondent that his wife, Molly, has deserted him and that his only child, Grace, has left her son, two-year-old Carlito, in his care. In the dead of winter in the Depression year of 1934, Dr. Delaney knows “the cause of death was always life.” Delaney is numb from the war and the abandonment of his family. When he saves the life of gangster friend Eddie Corso, Italian hood Frankie Botts is not happy. Delaney can feel the threat to him and his grandson in his bones. To further complicate matters, the FBI shows up looking for Grace. If there’s any consolation for Delaney in the chaos that has become his life, it’s Carlito and Rose, his Sicilian illegal alien housekeeper, who has become little Carlito’s surrogate mother—and Delaney’s lover. Soon the North River comes to symbolize Delaney’s tormented life, as enemies and loved ones float in it, and Grace, on a liner, returns to New York to further complicate Delaney’s new, delicate household. Hamill (Forever
; A Drinking Life
) has crafted a beautiful novel, rich in New York City detail and ambience, that showcases the power of human goodness and how love, in its many forms, can prevail in an unfair world. 5-city author tour.

March 1, 2008
"North River "is an evocative account of life in New York City in 1934. As the effects of the Depression rage all around him, Dr. James Delaney tries to serve the needs of his mostly Irish and Italian patients. His life had been disrupted a year earlier by the disappearance of his wife, but an even bigger change occurs when daughter Grace deposits her three-year-old son, Carlito, on his doorstep while she goes to Spain to search for her Marxist husband. The doctor hires a Sicilian immigrant, Rose, to look after the boy and finds himself changed forever by the two. Hamill diminishes the sentimental nature of his tale by having James and Rose caught up in a conflict between warring mob factions. Henry Strozier narrates in an engagingly gruff manner yet provides vivid, credible voices for Rose and Carlito. Recommended for popular collections.Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr.

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