The Ballad of Baxter Street

The Ballad of Baxter Street, by Barbara Kahn, recreates the notorious Five Points neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in 1855, steeped in diversity and full of the same prejudices that exist in today’s volatile climate — the place where “slumming” was invented. Street vendors sell everything from sand (yes, sand!) to hot corn to hand-sewn shirts; an Irishman and free-born African-American woman cross a social and racial divide to marry; an orphan who was tricked into marriage to a much older widowed policeman falls in love with her husband’s daughter; the real life famous French actress Rachel Felix helps the two women while on her New York tour; and the incredibly rich theatrical life on Broadway (below 14th St.), includes magicians, musicians and melodramas.

Appropriate for ages: 13 & up