Red Rain
In 1864 Will Harp returns to his home in the Hudson Valley after an absence of more than a decade. As wounded Civil War veterans return to the town of Rondout, he is continually reminded of his military service in the West against the Shoshone and haunted by unspeakable incidents in that campaign. All he wants to do is retire to The Clove, the farm he has inherited from his father, and reconstruct the ancient mastodon whose bones are discovered in a swamp on the farm.
But a greedy and brutal local businessman has designs on The Clove, the last piece of property he needs to build a resort hotel. Harp adamantly refuses to sell so the rich man unleashes his thug enforcer Mickey to “persuade” Doctor Harp to close the deal. Offsetting Mickey’s aggressive nature is his sister Jane, whose betrothed is missing in action at Cold Harbor and who finds herself drawn to the brooding and inscrutable Harp.
Murkoff weaves an intricate and exceptionally well detailed tale of mid-19th century life along the Hudson River. The novel casts a wide net for character types, including the gang of Dickensian-like boys who engage in petty crime; the Jug Hill people whose blood is both African and Dutch; the Irish gangs that continually fight “American-born” gangs; and the rich upper class who have found success in shipping and land speculation.
Red Rain is a colorful and lively novel with twists that never fail to surprise the reader and is highly recommended for anyone interested in that period in American history.
