The second novel in the internationally acclaimed six-volume sequence which began with MERCY OF A RUDE STREAM Ira Stigman,now an adolescent in 1920's New York,is on the rack.All his friends seem to be paragons of achievement and sophistication,while his own life bears the taint of an impoverished immigrant background.Work on the trolleycars and selling soda at Yankee Stadium introduces him to an underworld of corruption and petty thieving,and all his choices seem to be the wrong ones.Worst of all,within his own family exists a temptation so dark that it has corroded Ira's very soul..A DIVING ROCK ON THE HUDSONis fearless in its depiction of a young man in the lower depths,yet in its glimpses of redemption it offers hope with the power of lterature as a force for comprehension and forgiveness.