Barren Island

Music is everywhere and nowhere in Barren Island. The novel, which mostly takes place between the autumn of 1929 and Labor Day weekend in 1939, tells the story of people who live on an island in New York City that is isolated from the daily life of the city. The island is Barren Shoal, a spit of land adjacent to the historical Barren Island. Most of the residents, though not all, are recent immigrants. They struggle with poverty, bigotry, and dangerous work. The central characters challenge this isolation in order to wrestle with the cultural and political dramas of The Great Depression, including poverty, unions, fascism, refugees, and sexuality.