A bestseller that takes readers on a journey to New York of the Belle Epoque, where Peter Lake attempts to rob a Manhattan mansion only to find the daughter of the house at home. Thus begins the love between the middle-aged Irishman and Beverly Penn, a young girl who is dying. "This novel...is a gifted writer's love affair with the language" (Newsday).
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First Sentence
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. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By CV Hartas
Format:Paperback
When I first read this book over 20 years ago, New York really was a fantasy. Ticket prices were almost twice my monthly salary and I never dreamed of getting there in a million lifetimes. Winter's Tale was the closest I was ever going to get.
Fortunately, this energetic, almost religious work, by a man with an acknowledged interest in every pillar, post, brick and bottle of his city, well it's pretty damn close. He knows New York backwards, forwards and sideways - through time as well as space. And he picks characters out of its ether wherever he chooses and fashions them into diamonds.
It is not a fantasy novel. It's really not that cheap. It is written like a memory which might be a dream, as a mirage of a real city shifting in the mind, receding into a fog, tying itself within itself and emerging, clear, bright and hard, only to recede again. Its people and places are real New Yorkers and real New York, but they won't stay still.
If you are going to New York, read Winters Tale before you get there. If you have just been, read it when you get back. If you are never going, read it instead. It's beautiful.
Fortunately, this energetic, almost religious work, by a man with an acknowledged interest in every pillar, post, brick and bottle of his city, well it's pretty damn close. He knows New York backwards, forwards and sideways - through time as well as space. And he picks characters out of its ether wherever he chooses and fashions them into diamonds.
It is not a fantasy novel. It's really not that cheap. It is written like a memory which might be a dream, as a mirage of a real city shifting in the mind, receding into a fog, tying itself within itself and emerging, clear, bright and hard, only to recede again. Its people and places are real New Yorkers and real New York, but they won't stay still.
If you are going to New York, read Winters Tale before you get there. If you have just been, read it when you get back. If you are never going, read it instead. It's beautiful.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
If you plan to be shipwrecked on a deserted island, bring a toothbrush and this book. It's that good, and probably just that necessary. I've read 'Winter's Tale' like 6 times, and it keeps showing me new stuff. I'm not even clear on what it all means, really, but I don't think that matters. Helprin -- try to prove me wrong -- puts something gorgeous and profound and soul-pleasing in every single paragraph, if not every sentence. There's a glowing, resonant, orchestral familiarity in each romance, each caper, each heartbreak in this book; this is escapism of the rare sort that makes you believe that YOU CAN. And it's got a flying horse in it.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book was handed to me by my Mother who had grown up in New York. She loved it and encouraged me to read it as well. I happened to do just that as Winter came upon us in Maryland and it was as if I truly was on some roof watching the stars run across the sky. Now I live in California and this book brings the Fall and Winter seasons to me. I have not read such a beautifully descriptive author since Stephen R. Donaldson. Thank you Mark Helprin for this story. It's not long enough at all. The ending brings, "Somewhere in Time" to mind. I could even see Christopher Reeve playing Peter Lake if only... I'm pleased Mr. Helprin didn't leave it open to cash in on with endless additions. A Classic with very few others on my bookshelf.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Epic vision
This book is epic in vision, ambition and size (673 pages of relatively small type in my edition). And a few days ago I very much doubted that I would hit my target of reading a... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Zoe Brooks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless enchantment!
I discovered this book through a song, the hauntingly beautiful "Beverly Penn" by The Waterboys (recently reissued as a piano demo for In A Special Place: The Piano Demos For This... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dolphin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous book
This is simply a wonderful book, a fairy story for adults.
I first bought this book back in the 80's without knowing anything about it. Read more
I first bought this book back in the 80's without knowing anything about it. Read more
Published 21 months ago by T. S. Dorr
5.0 out of 5 stars
Winter's Tale ; The best book never to win a prize?
Brilliant example of the wordsmith's art. Helprin captivates from start to finish.
A mixture of the absurd, the sublime and the piquant all presented in a package of language,... Read more
A mixture of the absurd, the sublime and the piquant all presented in a package of language,... Read more
Published 23 months ago by disgusted of dagenham
5.0 out of 5 stars
As if language was designed for such as this...
Magical!
Mark Helprin simply takes a story where stories were always supposed to go but very few - though they may set out in the right direction - ever arrive.
Mark Helprin simply takes a story where stories were always supposed to go but very few - though they may set out in the right direction - ever arrive.
Published on 23 May 2011 by M. J. Creen
5.0 out of 5 stars
magical
I read this book , possibly 18 or so years ago, when my late husband and I rented a cottage in Yorkshire. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2010 by barbara
1.0 out of 5 stars
Be prepared for a long hard slog...
A very disappointing recommendation led me to this novel. The characters were one dimensional, and had few redeeming qualities to endear them to the reader. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Eclectic_Virgo
1.0 out of 5 stars
overblown pastiche
This book doesn't just know what it wants to be. Fantasy? Philosophy? Mystery? Romance? So many styles copied (badly), a plot that goes nowhere, countless unnecessary diversions... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2010 by bookworm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Winters Tale Mark Helprin
This is one of the best books I have ever read. I keep going back to it and every time I read it I find more. The description of the people and places are breath taking. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2009 by Mitzi I. Griffith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Winter's Tale
This is one of the most unforgetable books I have ever read. The characters are totally unique and I found myself loving them for thier lack of perfection, the story is magical... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2009 by M. Stamp
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