| Author: | Elizabeth Rosner | ISBN: | 9781619024069 |
| Publisher: | Counterpoint Press | Publication: | September 22, 2014 |
| Imprint: | Counterpoint | Language: | English |
| Author: | Elizabeth Rosner |
| ISBN: | 9781619024069 |
| Publisher: | Counterpoint Press |
| Publication: | September 22, 2014 |
| Imprint: | Counterpoint |
| Language: | English |
NPR Pick for Best Book of the Year: A love story and an epic tale of scientific history that “richly conveys an abiding sense of time and place” (Booklist).
In upstate New York, at the confluence of the Hudson River and its mighty tributary the Mohawk, came the creation of a new world of science. In 1887, Thomas Edison moved his Edison Machine Works here and a few years later, it became the headquarters of a major manufacturing company, giving the town its nickname: Electric City. Then, in 1919 came Charles Proteus Steinmetz, a brilliant mathematician and recent arrival from Ellis Island. Allied with his Mohawk friend Joseph Longboat and his adopted eleven-year-old granddaughter Midget, he would make advancements in Electric City that, quite simply, changed the world.
Now, in the autumn of 1965, Sophie Levine is the daughter of one of the many scientists working at The Company, whose electric logo can be seen from everywhere in town. Her family escaped Europe just before World War II, leaving behind annihilation and persecution. Ensconced in Electric City, Sophie is coming of age just as the town is gasping its last breaths.
America is on the cusp of great instability, enduring blackouts and social unrest over Vietnam. Into Sophie’s orbit drifts Henry Van Curler, the favored son of one of Electric City’s founding Dutch families, as well as Martin Longboat, grandson of Joseph Longboat. This new generation will face both the history of their town and their own uncertain future, struggling to bridge the gap between the old world and the new.
“Rosner at her best yet, a book that leaves the reader hungering for her next.” —Chicago Tribune
“Beautiful.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“A heady mix of world-changing history (Thomas Edison and Charles Steinmetz) coupled against a bewitching love triangle ignites Rosner’s gorgeously written exploration of the way inventions transform cities, hearts, and lives, sometimes with a terrible cost . . . Electrifyingly original.” —Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You
NPR Pick for Best Book of the Year: A love story and an epic tale of scientific history that “richly conveys an abiding sense of time and place” (Booklist).
In upstate New York, at the confluence of the Hudson River and its mighty tributary the Mohawk, came the creation of a new world of science. In 1887, Thomas Edison moved his Edison Machine Works here and a few years later, it became the headquarters of a major manufacturing company, giving the town its nickname: Electric City. Then, in 1919 came Charles Proteus Steinmetz, a brilliant mathematician and recent arrival from Ellis Island. Allied with his Mohawk friend Joseph Longboat and his adopted eleven-year-old granddaughter Midget, he would make advancements in Electric City that, quite simply, changed the world.
Now, in the autumn of 1965, Sophie Levine is the daughter of one of the many scientists working at The Company, whose electric logo can be seen from everywhere in town. Her family escaped Europe just before World War II, leaving behind annihilation and persecution. Ensconced in Electric City, Sophie is coming of age just as the town is gasping its last breaths.
America is on the cusp of great instability, enduring blackouts and social unrest over Vietnam. Into Sophie’s orbit drifts Henry Van Curler, the favored son of one of Electric City’s founding Dutch families, as well as Martin Longboat, grandson of Joseph Longboat. This new generation will face both the history of their town and their own uncertain future, struggling to bridge the gap between the old world and the new.
“Rosner at her best yet, a book that leaves the reader hungering for her next.” —Chicago Tribune
“Beautiful.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“A heady mix of world-changing history (Thomas Edison and Charles Steinmetz) coupled against a bewitching love triangle ignites Rosner’s gorgeously written exploration of the way inventions transform cities, hearts, and lives, sometimes with a terrible cost . . . Electrifyingly original.” —Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You
