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Description edit
New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake--orphan and master-mechanic, attempts... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
Quotes edit
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“p.280"'All great discoveries,' the elder Marratta had once said, 'are products as much of doubt as of certainty, and the two in opposition clear the air for marvelous accidents'"”
Signor Marratta -
“Peter Lake had no illusions about mortality. He knew that it made everyone perfectly equal, and that the treasures of the earth were movement, courage, laughter, and love. The wealthy could not buy these things. On the contrary, they were for the taking.”
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“You don't have to believe me. It's all right if you don't. The beauty of the truth is that it need not be proclaimed or believed. It skips from soul to soul, changing form each time it touches, but it is what it is, I have seen it, and someday you will too.”
Beverly Penn -
“The shelf was filled with books that were hard to read, that could devastate and remake one's soul, and that, when they were finished, had a kick like a mule.”
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
THERE was a white horse, on a quiet winter morning when snow covered the streets gently and was not deep, and the sky was swept with vibrant stars, except in the east, where dawn was beginning in a light blue flood.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in New York Times Best American Fiction 1981-2006. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Mark Helprin (Author)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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