After his father's murder during a union power struggle, Peter moves in with his uncle and cousin Michael, and as the boys grow up, their paths diverge, until they are drawn into a deadly round robin of violence and revenge.
After his father's murder during a union power struggle, Peter moves in with his uncle and cousin Michael, and as the boys grow up, their paths diverge, until they are drawn into a deadly round robin of violence and revenge.
In the City of Brotherly Love, a car skids off the ice and ignites a chain of events that changes everything for eight-year-old Peter Flood. Peter’s father is a powerful man, a union boss with mob connections, but all the power in the world is useless to a grieving son. Raised by his uncle, Peter tries to distance himself from the casual brutality of the family business, gravitating instead toward a small South Philly gym. Peter’s cousin Michael—his “brother”—moves in another direction: into small-time intimidation and the trappings of a union prince. Neither, however, can outrun the logic of violence as they’re dragged into a world of bad blood and a chilling cycle of betrayal and retribution.
Praise for Brotherly Love
“A first-rate novel and a masterly evocation of that undercivilized and unfree America . . . The grace and confidence of [Pete Dexter’s] prose conveys absolute authenticity.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Enviably artful work—carefully wrought, canny in its insights, sly in its presentation, sneaky in its revelations.”—Chicago Tribune
“Extraordinarily poignant . . . Brotherly Love is all bulletproof prose and flinty-eyed bravissimo. . . . But the quieter, sadder aspects of the novel are its strongest points.”—The Boston Globe
“Tautly and often exquisitely written.”—Los Angeles Times
“"A first-rate novel and a masterly evocation of that undercivilized and unfree America . . . The grace and confidence of [Pete Dexter's] prose conveys absolute authenticity." -- The New York Times Book Review ”
“A first-rate novel and a masterly evocation of that undercivilized and unfree America . . . The grace and confidence of [Pete Dexter’s] prose conveys absolute authenticity.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Enviably artful work—carefully wrought, canny in its insights, sly in its presentation, sneaky in its revelations.”—Chicago Tribune
“Extraordinarily poignant . . . Brotherly Love is all bulletproof prose and flinty-eyed bravissimo. . . . But the quieter, sadder aspects of the novel are its strongest points.”—The Boston Globe
“Tautly and often exquisitely written.”—Los Angeles Times
Pete Dexter is the author of the National Book Award–winning novel Paris Trout as well as Spooner, Paper Trails, God’s Pocket, Deadwood, Brotherly Love, and Train. He has been a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Sacramento Bee, and has contributed to many magazines, including Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Playboy. His screenplays include Rush and Mulholland Falls. Dexter was born in Michigan and raised in Georgia, Illinois, and eastern South Dakota. He lives on an island off the coast of Washington.
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