Children of the Whirlwind

About the book

Larry Brainard returns from prison to a New York neighborhood where his old associates expect his talents to remain useful to them. Maggie Carlisle, raised among confidence tricks and dubious dealings, has imagined him as a model of successful daring. His decision to go straight disappoints her more sharply than another crime would have done. Around them, the silent pawnbroker known as the Duchess and the painter nicknamed Nuts complicate easy judgments about appearances and worth. Leroy Scott builds the romance around opposed ideas of opportunity: Larry sees the need for another life, while Maggie believes respectable society is merely practicing a better-disguised form of exploitation. Their contest of wills unfolds under the practical pressures that make reinvention difficult for someone whose past remains known to the police.

• Reform and second chances
• Criminal ambition
• Appearance and moral worth

Why read it

Maggie's disappointment in Larry's reform gives the familiar return-from-prison story an unusual romantic conflict.

English text