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
*
"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
