"The author’s research is impeccable. Life in the slums of Five Points during the 1840s is well-written and rich in historical detail, giving a fascinating glimpse of the period. This story includes tales of love, power struggles, murder, racism, election fraud, criminal behavior and deception. Highly recommended."
—The Historical Novel Society in a review of Billy Gogan, American
From The Historical Novel Society Review of Billy Gogan, American by Roger Higgins, the first book in the Billy Gogan series:
In 1844, 15-year-old Billy Gogan is dismissed from St. Patrick’s College in Ireland after his father’s death in prison. He goes to his cousin Séamas’s home and is given a ticket for passage on the Maryann from the city of Cork to New York. While awaiting departure, he sees his mentor and friend Father O’Muirhily murdered on the quay by a man dressed in black. Because he is aboard ship, he is unable to report the crime and wonders who killed the priest and why. While the ship sails for New York, he befriends a young woman, Mary Skiddy, and her young daughter. Unfortunately, they are separated upon their arrival at Gotham. He is told many Irish gravitate towards Five Points, so he begins walking there to look for her. When in Five Points, a rough slum inhabited by the Irish and ex-slaves, he becomes a bookkeeper in a numbers game and befriends young Bill Tweed, who introduces him to the crooked politics of Tammany Hall. Eventually he locates Mary Skiddy and her daughter, and they develop a close brother-sister relationship. Bill eventually begins a forbidden love affair with a mulatto girl, the daughter of an Irish madam at one of Gotham’s better brothels. He is unaware that the man in black is on his trail. The author’s research is impeccable. Life in the slums of Five Points during the 1840s is well-written and rich in historical detail, giving a fascinating glimpse of the period. This story includes tales of love, power struggles, murder, racism, election fraud, criminal behavior and deception. Highly recommended.
"Roger Higgins is a bare-knuckled storyteller. In this brawny novel, he transports us to the hardscrabble lives of mid-1800s New York Irish immigrants. Though each day brings a new brawl for survival, under Higgins’s deft touch, the heartbeat of tenderness, love, and even racial enlightenment pulses through Gotham’s brutal veins.
“Higgins writes with a masterful sense of place. His argot and descriptions are so spot-on, you need to close the book and look around your own room to remind yourself that you really are safe and sound in the here and now.”
—Gary Buslik, author of A Rotten Person Travels the Caribbean, and Professor of English, Universityof Illinois, Chicago, in a review of Billy Gogan, American
The American - Mexican War, its horrors and realities brutally exposed through the eyes of Billy Gogan: American
This book is the sequel to the author’s first book, Billy Gogan: American, in which orphan Billy is sent from Ireland to America on the eve of the 1844 Irish Famine. Living by his wits, and doing what he must to survive, Billy quickly learns to grow up, establishes a life in Gotham, and eventually becomes an American citizen. However, after the tragic death of his good friend and companion Mary Skiddy, and the Great Fire of New York, it is a reflective Billy who, aged 16, decides to join Uncle Sam’s army, and this is where the second book really begins.
For anyone with an interest in this period of history this book will, I am sure, be compulsive reading. The author uses a blend of real and fictional characters to make this an excellent history book, with clear maps and outstanding information on the movements of the American army as they fought against the Mexicans in the American – Mexican War. However, this book has one very important element which makes it stand out against other similar history books, and that is Billy Gogan himself.
Through his eyes, as a member of the Fourth Infantry we see a soldier’s life in the raw, no holds barred. We are with him as he watches his friends die, sometimes terrible deaths, feel his pain as he clears away the bodies, picks up their letters to loved ones and wipes their blood off his clothes. We read throughout this book numerous examples of his and other soldiers’ loyalty to their adopted country as they carry out unspeakable acts in order to win battles, on the commands of their leaders.
Because of the way this book is written, the social history of the time is an integral part of the story. It is fascinating to discover what life was like for those civilians who travelled with the soldiers, and as a result, whose lives became interlaced.
The author has, in this outstanding book, through the character of Billy Gogan, chronicled the battles which took place during this period of American history in a very human way. The very real hope on both sides from the soldiers and common people, that war would not occur, then the horrors which resulted when it did.
In summary, in writing this book, the author Roger Higgins has produced an excellent story, well researched, wonderfully detailed, and totally compelling reading.
Susan Keefe, Midwest Book Review
"Roger Higgins has produced an excellent story, well researched, wonderfully detailed, and totally compelling reading." —Susan Keefe Midwest Book Review
