Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin

It is not often that I go back to read a book for a second time. The Plague. Heart of Darkness. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and its companion The Honourable Schoolboy. Maybe a few others. Winter's Tale is another such book. It reads like the best meal you have ever eaten, all the way from the soup to the dessert, leaving you both satisfied and wishing for more. The most significant accomplishment of the book is the beautiful manipulation of language and imagery. It is a fantastic tale grounded enough in reality to make you feel at home with his vision of the world - New York City, upper state NY, and a bit of California appear as colored a different hue, a bit larger and somewhat tilted replicas of the world that we know. It is a story that pits a good guy (a late 19th century burglar and master mechanic) who is looking for his lost love (a tuberculoid, piano playing, young woman with special powers of insight) against a bad guy (a charismatic, bumbling, color-obsessed villain). Prominent in the story are also a horse, an elusive bridge builder, a young man with a gold plate looking for a "perfectly just city", and Baymen who live in the marsh along the Hudson. As the NY Times reviewer called it, it is indeed a moral discourse. But it is more than that, really. Unlike most other stories (indeed, unlike any that I can recall), the novel is greater than the sum of its parts. Probably my favorite book and one that I will read again. Enjoy.