In 1777, Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, where I later grew up, was the site where American colonists used a cannon to defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. In elementary school in the 1950s, students at P.S. 94 learned history by writing essays about the war hero after whom our street was named. (Putnam Place, my street, honored General Israel Putnam, popularly known as “Old Put.”) The 3.5-mile road features prominently in my latest book, which begins in 1946, as the site of drag races and gang wars in a working class immigrant neighborhood. Learn more about this historic thoroughfare and its freedom-loving residents in The Sister Knot a novel about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship.
Cannon used in American Revolution
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
