It's New York City. 1873. Gangs rule the Five Points slums. Thieves are violating wealthy homes and Mayor Havemeyer is fed up. He hires Julius Barlow, a Pinkerton agent hardened by the Civil War, to clean up the mess. In the process, Agent Barlow is confronted with a view of crime foreign to his rigid sense of morality.
Osanna Falco, an Italian aristocrat, boards the SS Atlantic bound for NYC in search of her boys who were kidnapped by thugs that traffic children into slavery as thieves and street musicians. Through great personal loss, she persists in a city where customs are unfamiliar and crime is ever-present. She, too, must see crime differently as she and Barlow join forces to wrest children from the criminals' grasp. Culminating in a court case whose outcome is uncertain, Osanna and Julius plead on behalf of the accused children, resulting in an unexpected verdict.
From the stone-carved streets of Matera, Italy, to the ruins of Five Points, this is a historically inspired tale of loss, bonds forged in survival, redemption, and the endurance of the human spirit-where courage often wears the face of a child.
A Suitable Justice is a crime novel inspired by the abduction and enslavement of children in nineteenth century New York City and the reformers who took it upon themselves to attack it head on, regardless of personal cost. Their efforts resulted in the creation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC) in December 1874, the first child protective agency in the world.
