Manhattan Beach: A Novel

A World War II historical novel set in Depression-era New York. At nearly twelve years old, Anna Kerrigan visits Dexter Styles, a Brooklyn gangster connected to her father's survival. She is drawn to the sea beyond his house and to a mysterious tension between the two men. Years later, after America enters World War II and her father disappears, Anna finds work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. As women take on jobs vacated by soldiers, she becomes the Yard's first female diver—a dangerous and exclusive occupation—repairing ships for the war effort. When she encounters Dexter Styles again at a nightclub, she begins to uncover the complexity of her father's life and the circumstances of his disappearance. The novel explores a transformative moment through the lives of gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers, and union men, examining how women and men's identities and roles shifted during this period in American history.