In 1974, Phillipe Petit walked a tightrope between the twin towers; it was the nadir in the unpopularity of the Vietnam War; and it was the year the first emails were sent. Irish writer Colum McCann use these occurrences as metaphors for 9/11 in his new book.

The lives of three people are oddly connected by Pettit's walk and recounted in this wonderful, sweeping novel. Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, questions his faith as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the decrepit Bronx. Claire mourns the death of her son and joins a disparate group of mothers whose sons who died in Vietnam. Tillie, a 38-year-old prostitute and grandmother, walks the streets with her teenage daughter. McCann pulls these lives together to create a powerful and immensely readable novel.