Winter's Tale: A #1 New York Times Bestselling Masterpiece of Magical Realism in Belle Époque New York
A #1 New York Times Bestseller: Mark Helprin’s masterpiece of magical realism transports you to New York of the Belle Époque, to a city clarified by a siege of unprecedented snows, and to an epic love story that is one of the most beautiful and unforgettable in American literature.
One winter night, Peter Lake—master mechanic and second-story man—attempts to rob a fortresslike mansion on the Upper West Side. Though he thinks it is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the affair between a middle-aged Irish burglar and Beverly Penn, a young girl dying of consumption. It is a love so powerful that Peter, a simple and uneducated man caught in a battle of good vs. evil, will be driven to stop time and bring back the dead.
"Utterly extraordinary . . . A piercing sense of the beautiful arising from narrative and emotional fantasy is everywhere alive in the novel . . . Not for some time have I read a work as funny, thoughtful, passionate or large-souled."— New York Times Book Review
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
3.5 stars. There were parts of this lengthy novel that I loved. I highlighted many beautiful passages, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending. It felt unfinished. This book is definitely a book for voracious readers with an affinity for vocabulary. (I'm thankful I was reading this on my kindle and was able to utilize the handy dictionary feature.) The descriptions of Peter Lake's beloved city of New York alone make this novel worth reading, but the multiple characters and excessive length left me wishing for an abridged version.
Over the years I've occasionally re-read this book when NYC gets cold, since nothing could ever be as cold as the winters described here. But I didn't like it as much this time; once Peter had gone into the cloud wall, I got bored with the endless descriptions. In my old age I want a good story more than I want pretty words put together well. But the beginning of my love for Grand Central Station was born in this work.