What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

He lives in a city, maybe New York. He is walking home at night and trips on string that is supporting stakes that are marking off something. He falls on sharp stakes that are in the ground and dies. Does this sound familiar? I believe the setting of the book was the early 1900s.

This happens in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but to a very minor character (Johnny's brother, who actually doesn't really appear in the book at all, except to describe his death):

About a year after Johnny's marriage, Frankie, whom many thought even handsomer than Andy, wavered home after a drinking party one night and stumbled over some taut wire that a bucolic Brooklynite had strung around a square foot of grass before his house stoop. The wire was held up by sharp little sticks. As Frankie stumbled, one of the sticks pierced his stomach. He got up somehow and went home. He died during the night. He died alone and without the priest's last absolution for all of his sins. For the rest of her days, his mother had a mass said once a month for the repose of his soul which she knew wandered about in Purgatory.

Yes, that is it! Thank you.

How do I let people know this is solved?

Glad you found your book, Mary. I marked this request as Solved by clicking the small "edit" link after the topic header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app.

I also added the genre "YA [teen] historical fiction" to the header.

You're welcome -- glad you found your book!