The Given Day

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 changeof asserting ones worth in a world bent on devaluing ones 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. Boston, 1918. Foot patroller, amateur boxer, and eldest of three brothers Danny Coughlin is Police Department royaltythe son of Captain Thomas Coughlin of Precinct 12. Danny monitors activities in the poor, predominantly Italian neighborhoods of the North End, a prime recruitment area for every major communist and socialist organization. Political dissent is in the air, fresh and intoxicating, and Danny is drawn into the ideological fray as a favor to his fatherfirst as a mole in the policemans own union, the Boston Social Club, then as an undercover agent infiltrating various radical circles. But Dannys experiences among underpaid workingmen and their forward-thinking leaders quickly turn him to the other side. To the tremendous embarrassment of his well-respected father, Dannys oratorical talent unexpectedly vaults him to a position of leadership in the BSC, just as the policemens union sits at the cusp of securing recognition from the American Federation of Labor. In the eyes of Captain Coughlin, the once quietly humming city has become an angry hive of insurgent activity, unrecognizable to Dannys father and the cadre of Old Men that built Boston with their own knuckle and grit. Cherished tenets of peace and order lie in the balance, and rumors of an impending policemen strike fuel fears among the higher-ups that Boston will quickly turn to ashes. The sudden eruption of a molasses tank on the North End seems like an evil omenperhaps the work of anarchists, and a warning of more deadly explosions to come. Meanwhile, former munitions factory worker, baseball player, and father-to-be Luther Lawrence is on the lam. Fingered in a deadly drug-related shooting in Tulsa, Luther has fled to the house of family friends in Boston while news of the killings cools down. Leaving behind his pregnant wife, Lila Waters, and the idyllic life they had begun to create in one of Tulsas African-American neighborhoods, Luther begins work as the personal driver and repairman of the Coughlin household. After striking up an alliance with Danny and a fast friendship with the familys Irish domestic servant, Nora OShea, Luther comes to see that a powerful bond once connected Danny to Nora. As the mystery of their relationship unravels, Luther witnesses the gradual rekindling of love between the pair and grows determined to return to his own wife and now newborn son. But Luthers law-breaking past has followed him north, and first he must settle scores with those hot on his trail.In a story of families given and families chosen, bonds created and bonds destroyed, THE GIVEN DAY gives voice to the deepest meanings of unionthe love and friendship that link Danny, Luther, and Nora; the working men that band together to fight for their rights; the personal alliances that drive Boston business and politics; and the teamwork that cinched Red Sox victory in the 1918 World Series. Even the young Babe RuthAmericas rising baseball hero and already a near-mythical figuremakes several extraordinary appearances throughout Lehanes narrative. Ruths story also resonates with the personal trajectories of Danny and Luther. All thee men struggle against fierce mechanisms of social controlracism, xenophobia, and class warfare; the grind of an unforgiving economy; and the unwieldy expectations and empty promises of those in power. Culminating in the Boston Police Strike of 1919, THE GIVEN DAY explores the crippling violence of a nation at war with itself. Echoes with todays political climate are unmistakable, particularly as the distinction between intellectual dissension and terrorism continues to narrow by the day. Lehane has crafted a timeless storyas much a wonderfully rendered historical portrait as a startling mirror to contemporary American politics. Meticulously researched and expertly plotted, THE GIVEN DAY will transport readers to an unforgettable time and place, where the meek are fighting for every inch of earth, and the logic of sanity has lost its power. As fiercely held convictions and righteous rage spill blood onto Bostons streets, Lehanes characters struggle to build new lives in a crumbling worldto find family in each other, and together confront the rising storm of change.