Loon Lake

The hero of this dazzling novel by American master E. L. Doctorow is Joe, a young man on the run in the depths of the Great Depression. A late-summer night finds him alone and shivering beside a railroad track in the Adirondack mountains when a private railcar passes. Brightly lit windows reveal well-dressed men at a table and, in another compartment, a beautiful girl holding up a white dress before her naked form. Joe will follow the track to the mysterious estate at Loon Lake, where he finds the girl along with a tycoon, an aviatrix, a drunken poet, and a covey of gangsters. Here Joe’s fate will play out in this powerful story of ambition, aggression, and identity. Loon Lake is another stunning achievement of this acclaimed author.

“Powerful . . . [a] complex and haunting meditation on modern American history.”

*–The New York Times*

“A genuine thriller . . . a marvelous exploration of the complexities and contradictions of the American dream . . . Not under any circumstances would we reveal the truly shattering climax.”

–*The Dallas Morning News

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“A dazzling performance . . . [*Loon Lake*] anatomizes America with insight, passion, and inventiveness.”

*–The Washington Post Book World*

“Hypnotic . . . tantalizes long after it has ended.”

*–Time*

“Compelling . . . brilliantly done.”

*–St. Louis Post-Dispatch*

“A masterpiece.”

–Chicago Sun-Times