Overview

"How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, it is a questions his commanders have already answered for him - on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn't to murder the spy, but to marry her. Their marriage, with its riveting and horrifying consequences, reveals the deep divisions that still haunt American life today. Based on real personalities like Judah Benjamin, the Confederacy's Jewish Secretary of State and spymaster, and on historical facts and events ranging form an African-American spy network to the dramatic self-destruction of the city of Richmond, All Other Nights is a gripping and suspenseful story of men and women driven to the extreme limits of loyalty and betrayal. AUTHOR: In 2007 Dara Horn was chosen by Granta magazine as one of the Best Young American Novelists. Her second novel, The World to Come, was selected as an Editor's Choice in The New York Times Book Review and as one of the Best Books of 2006 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and has been translated into eleven languages. REVIEWS “Horn propels the love story at a thriller's pace; the mix of love and loyalty played out in a divided America is sublime.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Praise for THE WORLD TO COME: "" [Horn] has a spiritual and moral intuition that transcends most of her contemporaries. This is no mean feat - especially since she combines it with a flair for fantastical storytelling."" THE TIMES “A ridiculously accomplished novelist for a 29-year-old” OBSERVER “[A] rich, complex and haunting novel” NEW YORK TIMES (EDITORS CHOICE)"

Full Product Details

9781906964054

Table of Contents

Reviews

Horn (The World to Come, 2006, etc.) details the adventures of a young Jewish spy for the Union.In the hours before Passover 1862, 19-year-old Jacob Rappaport emerges from a smuggler's barrel onto the New Orleans waterfront. The son of a wealthy New York merchant, he joined the Union Army to avoid an arranged marriage and has been sent South to kill his Uncle Harry, suspected (rightly) of planning to assassinate Lincoln. Jacob slips poison into his uncle's seder wine, and Harry expires spectacularly, vomiting black bile onto the silver trays. Regrettably, this is the most dramatic moment in the novel. Jacob's next assignment is to infiltrate a Virginia household and marry beautiful Rebel spy Eugenia Levy. Assisted by her three sisters, she's passing on military secrets blabbed by a Union officer too pompous to realize that ladies also have brains. Horn's Dan Brown - like fascination with codes and passwords is unlikely to be shared by readers, nor is the romance terribly compelling. Jacob falls for Eugenia and succeeds in marrying her, but his ambivalent vacillations between shame and bravado make him a weak hero. Eventually the sisters are arrested and Eugenia is reported dead: more shame for Jacob, who has now betrayed his wife as well as killed his uncle. His mission is over, but the novel is only half finished. Jacob returns to the South as a regular soldier - primarily, one suspects, so Horn can work Grant's order to expel Jews into the plot. Crippled and partially blinded in an accident, Jacob volunteers for one last mission, which involves gaining the trust of Judah Benjamin, the Jewish brains behind the Confederacy in Richmond. Two big questions remain: Is Eugenia still alive? Will Jacob be a fool for love? Make that three: Does anyone care?Turgid and meandering. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available