The Given Day
By Dennis Lehane
HarperCollins
$27.95, hard cover, 704 pages, 978-0-688-16318-1 (2008).
As a dedicated Dennis Lehane fan, I was looking forward to his latest book knowing that it would once again be centered in and around Boston. Instead of it being in the present time, this novel is set at the end of the First World War. I had read that the book was a work of fiction that included some of the more popular and colorful people of that era: Babe Ruth, John Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Eugene O’Neill and NAACP founder W. E. B. DuBois.
Could Lehane pull off an historical novel that would ring true and still incorporate a compelling story of two families – one white and one black – swept up in the compelling events of that time: revolutionaries, police rights, immigration, influenza and race relations? Was he up to the task of writing compelling characters like in some of his previous novels like Mystic River, Shutter Island and the series of crime thrillers about Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennario?
I had nothing to worry about – Lehane met and exceeded my every expectation. This story is about Danny Coughlin, a Boston police officer, and Luther Laurence, a black man who is moved to Boston and is running from a crime boss in Oklahoma. Their stories intertwine in an unlikely but enjoyable storyline that keeps the reader satisfied on every page.
If you’ve read and like any previous Lehane novels, read this one; if you enjoy history or historical books, read this one; if you like baseball or the city of Boston, read this book. Hell, if you like to read at all, by all means read The Given Day.
Buy it on Amazon here.
