The sunken cathedral : a novel
(Book)

"Follows a cast of characters as the negotiate one of Manhattan's swiftly changing neighborhoods, extreme weather, and the perils and unease of twenty-first-century life. Marie and Simone, friends for decades, were once immigrants to New York, survivors of World War II in Europe. Now widows, living in Chelsea, they remain engaged and adventurous, even as their past interrupts their present. Helen is an art historian who takes a painting class with Marie and Simone and chronicles impending catastrophes. Sid Morris, their instructor, presides over a dusty studio in a tenement slated for condo conversion; he awakes the interest of both Simone and Marie. Elizabeth is Marie's upstairs tenant, a woman convinced that others have a secret way of being, a confidence and certainty she lacks." -- Dust jacket.