From terror in Russia to a courageous act of resistance in the Jim Crow South, history comes alive.
Set against the pogroms of the Russian Empire and some of the most turbulent decades of twentieth-century American history, The Queen of New York braids the stories of Esther Garry and her great-aunt, queer artist and activist Sera Garry, into a powerful narrative of resistance, love, and redemption.
Bruised and exhausted, just before her high school graduation, Esther flees to Greenwich Village seeking refuge with Sera. A budding writer, she proposes to record her great-aunt's life as a distraction from her own. Sera agrees-on the condition that Esther tells her story, too.
As Esther recalls the traumas of her childhood, the terror of the McCarthy era, and the intense friendship that sustained her, Sera reveals her own secret history. As a youth in czarist Russia, she committed an act of violent resistance with tragic consequences, a remorse that shadows her life in America. From her family's escape to New York to the garment strikes and suffrage battles, Sera's stories captivate Esther.
In 1960, the two women travel south to join the Civil Rights Movement, where they learn whether nonviolent resistance can atone for past mistakes—and whether solidarity and steadfast commitment to justice can overcome fear. At its heart, this shared journey illuminates the courage required to stand against oppression, to embrace forbidden love, and to seek redemption.
Lyrical and deeply researched, The Queen of New York is perfect for readers who seek historical fiction that centers on activism, the lasting bonds of friendship between women, and intergenerational healing.
"Freed-Thall offers an intricate historical novel that touches on themes of intergenerational political rebellion and personal identity... Over the course of Freed-Thall’s novel, Sera and Esther’s alternating life stories effectively act as mirrors to each other, demonstrating that while the two women grew up in different times and places, their struggles are similar at heart... An inspirational and sometimes heartbreaking tale of two women’s resilience in the face of hardships."
- Kirkus Reviews
