The Queen of New York

Description

Winner of the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Silver Medal in LGBTQ+ Fiction. A Phoenix Books Staff Pick and one of the store’s bestselling titles, The Queen of New York has also helped raise more than $3000 for Outright Vermont’s LGBTQ+ youth programs.

Set against the pogroms of the Russian Empire and some of the most turbulent twentieth-century American history, The Queen of New York braids the stories of Esther Garry and her great-aunt, queer artist and activist Sera Garry, into a powerful narrative of resistance, love, and redemption.

Bruised and exhausted, just before her high school graduation, Esther flees to Greenwich Village seeking refuge with Sera. A budding writer, she proposes to record her great-aunt’s life as a distraction from her own. Sera agrees-on the condition that Esther tells her story, too.

As Esther recalls the traumas of her childhood, the terror of the McCarthy era, and the intense friendship that sustained her, Sera reveals her own secret history. As a youth in czarist Russia, she committed an act of violent resistance with tragic consequences, a remorse that shadows her life in America. From her family’s escape to New York to the garment strikes and suffrage battles, Sera’s stories captivate Esther.

In 1960, the two women travel south to join the Civil Rights Movement, where they learn whether nonviolent resistance can atone for past mistakes-and whether solidarity and steadfast commitment to justice can overcome fear. At its heart, this shared journey illuminates the courage required to stand against oppression, to embrace forbidden love, and to seek redemption.

Lyrical and deeply researched, The Queen of New York is perfect for readers who seek historical fiction that centers on activism, the lasting bonds of friendship between women, queer identity, and intergenerational healing.

Binding Type: Paperback
Contributors: Michael Freed-Thall,Tara McCarthy (Cover Design by)
Published: 04/24/2026
Publisher: Michael Freed-Thall
ISBN: 9798218708245
Pages: 286
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 0.64″ H x 8.50″ L x 5.50″ W

About the Author
Freed-Thall, Michael: – Michael Freed-Thall is the award-winning author of The Queen of New York, winner of the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Silver Medal in LGBTQ+ Fiction. His previous novel, Horodno Burning (2021), received a Gold Medal for Historical Fiction from the Human Relations Indie Book Awards and was a finalist for the Independent Publishers of New England Genre Fiction Award. He and his wife, Patricia, raised their children while building a life in Vermont’s Green Mountains. After a thirty-year career as a teacher and principal in Vermont schools, Freed-Thall turned to fiction. To learn more about the author, go to http: //michaelfreedthall.com and https: //www.rootstockpublishing.com/rootstock-books/p/horodno-burning-a-novelMcCarthy, Tara: – Tara McCarthy is an editorial graphic designer located in Vermont. With almost 20 years of experience on staff at national and regional magazines in New York City and Atlanta, she now freelances for multiple titles with a focus on interior design, art, theatre, travel, and food.