THE COPPERHEADS
By
As different from his first two novels as they were from each other. An American setting -- New York City, hatched of intrigue during the Civil War, for a story that reveals murky depths of Wall Street and political manipulators; and romance, star-crossed, as lovely Maria Meinhardl, daughter of a German-American baker, betrays her own love as she is tempted in one direction by glamor, cloaking unscrupulous machinations, and in another direction by petulant rebellion over fleeting unfaithfulness. A crowded canvas, as the unsavory picture of what went on behind the scenes while a nation battled for survival; an expose which paints a dark picture of bribery and corruption. Exhausting reading, for its multiplicity of character and sub-plot.