Sunday, May 27, 2018

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott FIC McD

This novel takes place in the early part of the last century in Brooklyn where life can be hard but the Catholics are lucky to have dedicated nuns - angels who show up when people need them.  In one tenement lives Jim and his wife Annie.  Jim worked for the railroad but unfortunately he has a time management problem and they have finally let him go. Things are even worse when Annie tells him she is pregnant.  In despair one gloomy February day he insists Annie go shopping.  As soon as she is gone he begins to fill the cracks of the door and the windows and turns the gas taps on.  It leads to a fire and Jim's death.

Sister St. Savior had spent the afternoon asking for alms and is on her way back to the convent when she smells the fire and shows up to help.

The nuns continue to help Annie and eventually the baby, a daughter named Sally.

I loved the book.  The characters were wonderful and I enjoyed reading about the inner city as it was a hundred years ago.

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