Let the Great World Spin

by Colum McCann

A warm August day in 1974 sets the stage for a most unusual happening: a man is balancing on a tightrope between the twin towers.

But our story isn’t about a man balancing on a wire high above New York. It is about the people below and their own balancing acts:

• Corrigan is the kind, young Irish man who looks after his neighborhood’s prostitutes,
• Claire is the grieving mother on Park Avenue, whose son died in Vietnam, and
• Tillie is the hooker who never has the chance to escape the horrors of her life.

Corrigan, Claire, and Tillie will take readers to places that are both unfamiliar and all too familiar at the same time. They come from different worlds, but their struggles are the same. These characters and their connections to one another are unforgettable.

1/18/12