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In 1806 Boston, two Irish immigrants, Dominic Daley and James Halligan, were hanged for murder: it took nearly 200 years for the state of Massachusetts to proclaim their innocence. White, who captured Boston Irish Catholicism in The Blind Side of the Heart (1999), takes the historical characters in this story and weaves a novel around them. Heading each chapter with quotes from primary documents, he reveals the intense anti-Catholic prejudice of nineteenth-century Boston. The French priest Father Cheverus must weigh his superior's fear of offending local officials against the great need of the accused for spiritual succor. We know just how badly this will go, as White spins out the tales of Daley and Halligan, their histories and families, and that of Father Cheverus. The detail, although sometimes dense and clotted, is rich in historical resonance. GraceAnne DeCandido
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Review

"Michael White's new novel, The Garden of the Martyrs, is everything a historical novel, or any novel, should be--rich in its characters and setting, compelling in its drama, and utterly true in its deepest emotions and ideology." - Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls (winner of the Pulitzer Prize)

"What strikes me most about this wonderful novel by Michael White is the authenticity of place and character. It's not so much that White has done his homework about early 19th century anti-Irish sentiment and a gross miscarriage of justice (and he has!--the history is deeply felt, not merely reported); it's that the reader is transported in time so thoroughly that I, too, was walking the streets of Boston and Northampton. An absorbing and engrossing novel by one of our finest novelists today." - Anita Shreve, author of The Pilot's Wife

“A meticulously researched and richly drawn portrait of the lives of two Irish-Catholic immigrants and their priest. Michael C. White has delivered a historical novel of lasting contemporary resonance.” - A. Manette Ansay, author of Vinegar Hill

"In this powerhouse novel, master storyteller Michael C. White brings to urgent life a historic murder case rife with timeless moral questions. In his commanding narrative and rich visceral descriptions, White transports the reader to Boston, 1806: its backroads and churches and seats of power; even, in scenes of stunning immediacy, its gallows. Both sweeping and intimate, The Garden of Martyrs reaches deep inside three men as each seeks his separate peace."- Elizabeth Searle, author of _A Four-Sided Bed and Celebrities in Disgrace_

"Painstakingly researched, expertly told_, The Garden of Martyrs _is a gripping, wonderful novel. Writing about one terrible injustice, Michael White brings to life the history of several cultures, and, in the process, takes us on a wise, honest, unflinching tour of the human soul."
- Roland Merullo, author of_ In Revere, In Those Days and Revere Beach_

s20If you are looking for imaginatively drawn historical figures, The Garden of Martyrs evokes troubled times and distant echoes of today's international discontent. Author Michael C. White writes his characters in an elegant and leisurely manner, rendering dialect and idiomatic phrases with intuitive skill. This story unveils strong New England sociopolitical mysteries (the motif here is cultural assimilation and the inherent injustice) much in the way that a shy Irish bride opens her heart: with passion, longing, and trepidation. Fans of historical novels, especially those touching on the Irish "troubles" and juxtaposed with the French Revolution, will gather around the New England lamp light and be thrilled to acquaint themselves with White's newest and most engaging work of fiction."- Kate Sullivan, Editor at wordsmitten.com

"Writing with a good feel for the period, White manages to get the history right and keep the narrative taut at the same time." - Kirkus Reviews

"The detail...is rich in historical resonance." - Booklist

"_The Garden of Martyrs_ is an absorbing, well-written, ultimately heartbreaking story. Michael C. White has given us a bracing and compelling novel of the other side of the immigrant experience." - Kevin Baker, author of Paradise Valley and Dreamland

"_The Garden of Martyrs_ is at once a moving, evocative historical novel, and a complex work of crime, courtroom, and social context. Michael C. White draws us into an early 19th century New England, where the the tensions between Catholics and Protestants, between established Bostonians and new Irish immigrants, shape a terrible murder case, and the trial that results, yielding a book that is a potent combination of individual human tragedy, detailed legal intrigue, and historical drama."-Perri Klass, author of The Mystery of Breathing