The Waterworks
The Waterworks by E.L. Doctorow, published by Random House in May 1994, is a historical fiction novel set in 19th-century New York City. The story follows Martin Pemberton, a freelance writer who, on a rainy morning in 1871, spots a figure he believes to be his deceased father in a passing stagecoach. As Pemberton delves into this mystery, he mysteriously disappears, prompting his employer, McIlvaine, to investigate the circumstances surrounding his fate and the dark underbelly of the city.
Readers will encounter a narrative that explores themes of morality and societal decay within a bustling metropolis. The Waterworks presents a vivid portrayal of a city rife with corruption, as the Tweed Ring manipulates its operations while the wealthy remain oblivious to the surrounding poverty. This edition spans 253 pages and is written in English, offering a compelling glimpse into a historical context marked by both intrigue and moral complexity.
Official synopsis Publisher
“An elegant page-turner of nineteenth-century detective fiction.”
–The Washington Post Book World
One rainy morning in 1871 in lower Manhattan, Martin Pemberton a freelance writer, sees in a passing stagecoach several elderly men, one of whom he recognizes as his supposedly dead and buried father. While trying to unravel the mystery, Pemberton disappears, sending McIlvaine, his employer, the editor of an evening paper, in pursuit of the truth behind his freelancer’s fate. Layer by layer, McIlvaine reveals a modern metropolis surging with primordial urges and sins, where the Tweed Ring operates the city for its own profit and a conspicuously self-satisfied nouveau-riche ignores the poverty and squalor that surrounds them. In E. L. Doctorow’s skilled hands, The Waterworks becomes, in the words of The New York Times, “a dark moral tale . . . an eloquently troubling evocation of our past.”
“Startling and spellbinding . . . The waters that lave the narrative all run to the great confluence, where the deepest issues of life and death are borne along on the swift, sure vessel of [Doctorow’s] poetic imagination.”
–The New York Times Book Review
“Hypnotic . . . a dazzling romp, an extraordinary read, given strength and grace by the telling, by the poetic voice and controlled cynical lyricism of its streetwise and world-weary narrator.”
–The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A gem of a novel, intimate as chamber music . . . a thriller guaranteed to leave readers with residual chills and shudders.”
–Boston Sunday Herald
“Enthralling . . . a story of debauchery and redemption that is spellbinding from first page to last.”
–Chicago Sun-Times
“An immense, extraordinary achievement.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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