Christodora

In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan's East Village, the Christodora.

The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbour, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly's and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, the couple's adopted son, Mateo, grows to appreciate the opportunities for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers.

As the junkies and protestors of the 1980s give way to the hipsters of the 2000s and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020s, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them.

Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.

An Amazon Best Book of August 2016: In his spellbinding novel, Tim Murphy crafts a tale that is as ambitious as it is focused, sprawling as it is intimate, and as warm-hearted as it is gritty. The story revolves around the Christodora, an East Village apartment building whose tenants bear witness to the ever changing city. From the devastation of the 1980s AIDS epidemic to the influx of drug addicts and alcoholics to the transformation of boho artists to yuppie ones, Jared and Milly and their adopted son Mateo grapple with their shifting neighborhood and the unforgettable events of the past that will forever define their future. Told through multiple narrators and moving back and forth through the decades, Christodora is a page-turning epic that crackles with life – in all of its messy, addictive, artistic glory. --Al Woodworth, The Amazon Book Review