The good doctor walks through his days like a ghost, his wife Molly having disappeared several years before and who was last sighted on a pier near the North River. Her body was never found, which keeps him awake at night, wondering if she is alive or dead. His daughter Grace has left to live in Mexico with her new husband and alone, Dr. Delaney tries to justify his existence on a daily basis.

Two events will change the doctor’s life forever as he is called upon to care for his old friend Eddie Corso, who also happens to be one of the two big Mob leaders in the area. This act puts him squarely in the middle of a turf war between Corso and his rival Frankie Botts. To complicate matters further, he then finds his three year-old grandson, Carlito, left literally on his doorstep by his errant daughter.

He hires Rose, a tough and outspoken Sicilian to care for Carlito during the day and they weather the tough winter together. With the arrival of Carlito and Rose, Delaney is given a second chance at life and the family he longs for desperately. The family he previously lost when he went off to war.

What makes this novel so compelling is the dynamic cast of characters and the vibrant setting descriptions. Even if those settings are cold and dark, you feel the heavy burden that the doctor carries with him, the hopelessness that pervades the country in this very dark time in history.

The usual suspects around the neighborhood make the area itself its own character in the story. Unseen eyes that watch protectively over the doctor as he makes his way from home to potentially dangerous situations and back again. North River symbolizes beginnings and ends for Dr. Delaney, bringing and taking away those things most dear to him in the world.

Overall, North River is a very compelling story, beautifully told, that gives the reader a detailed and vivid glimpse into how many survived and triumphed during the years of the Great Depression on the streets of New York City.

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