31 Bond Street: A Novel - Softcover

Horan, Ellen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061773972 ISBN 13: 9780061773976

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2011

Synopsis

Who killed Dr. Harvey Burdell in his opulent Manhattan town house?

At once a gripping mystery and a richly detailed excavation of a lost age, 31 Bond Street is a spellbinding tale of murder, sex, greed, and politics in 1857 New York. Author Ellen Horan interweaves fact and fiction—reimagining the sensational nineteenth-century crime that rocked the city a few short years before the Civil War ripped through the fabric of the nation, while transporting readers back to a time that eerily echoes our own.

Though there are no clues to the brutal slaying of wealthy Dr. Burdell, suspicion quickly falls on Emma Cunningham, the refined, pale-skinned widow who managed his house and servants. An ambitious district attorney seeks a swift conviction, but defense attorney Henry Clinton is a formidable obstacle—a man firmly committed to justice and the law, and to the cause of a frightened, vulnerable woman desperately trying to save herself from the gallows.

About this title

About the Author:

Ellen Horan is a novelist living in New York City. She has worked on staff and freelance for the publications as a photo editor such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, and ARTnews. She lives in downtown Manhattan, the setting of her first novel, 31 Bond Street.

Review:

It's not easy to breathe life into real-life characters, especially when quoting their words extensively from reported sources, but Cunningham and Clinton live on the page as freshly as if they had stepped, newly minted, from Horan's vivid imagination." Washington Post

"31 Bond Street works as both historical fiction and courtroom drama. Add in the actuality of the event, and you have a trifecta of a historical crime story in the hands of a skilled writer." --San Francisco Book Review

"This is a gripping, elegantly written, and brilliantly researched legal thriller, but it is more than that: 31 Bond Street illuminates a critical period of our history with sharp insights into sex, class, and politics. Don't miss it." Joe Conason, New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting of the President and Big Lies

"Set in 1857 and based on true events, this is a deft and highly readable book, much recommended..." The Daily Mail

"A smart, well-crafted and sophisticated story...Like E. L. Doctorow and Caleb Carr, Ms. Horan has written a fine, historical novel based on fact."  Jason Boog, Mediabistro

"31 Bond Street works as both historical fiction and courtroom drama. Add in the actuality of the event, and you have a trifecta of a historical crime story in the hands of a skilled writer." The Sacramento Book Review

“The skill with which Ellen Horan has braided true crime with thoughtful novelizing is pure pleasure.... Caleb Carr meets Scott Turow. What could possibly be better?”  — Beverly Swerling, author of City of God   “An impressive blend of imagination and history as it vividly brings to life one of New York’s City’s most notorious crimes. Ellen Horan has written a novel that, once begun, will be difficult for any reader to put down.” — Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena
"Horan brings to life a sensational 19th-century New York City murder trial in which a woman is accused of viciously killing her husband. . . . An engaging mix of fact and fiction, with a juicy trial, sensationalistic reporters, and lots of local urban color." Kirkus Reviews

Vanity Fair, Hot Type, Essential Reading, May 2010

Indie Pick, May 2010

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0061773972
• ISBN 13: 9780061773976
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384