The Crossing is a powerful and haunting love story of surprising
discovery set in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen during Prohibition.
Irish-born Johnny Flynn, a former British soldier, is banished from his
homeland and sent to America on a ship so riddled with disease that he
realizes the voyage was meant to murder him. When he survives the trip,
the captain forces him to walk the plank into the Hudson River.
Miraculously, an Irish gang, the Swamp Angels, rescues Johnny and gives
him a job running whiskey in Hell's Kitchen just as Prohibition makes
liquor a hugely profitable, dangerous business.
Fighting for his life and livelihood, Johnny is plagued by the memory of
his lost lover, Nora, whose father, the famed Irish revolutionary, James
Connolly, met his death by a firing squad that included a reluctant
gunman named Johnny Flynn. Nora's last words to him, when she learned of
his betrayal and left him, "I love you, Johnny Flynn", echo in his
heart, leaving him pulsing with guilt, yearning, and hoping that she
might yet forgive him.
One night, drunk on the floor of Hailey's speakeasy, Johnny encounters a
seeming apparition on stage, the ghostly Esme, an Irish singer who
suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the British Black and Tans.
Johnny is dazzled by her. From Esme, Johnny learns how to overcome the
desire for revenge, only to discover that she, too, clings to her own
dark dream of retribution.
As he grapples with taking responsibility to help others resolve this
overwhelming dilemma, he learns that Nora is coming to New York to
advocate for Irish independence. As he confronts her and soon thereafter
receives a piercing love letter from Esme, the story comes to a
turbulent climax.
