Quinn's Book

The Story

The scene is still Albany and environs, but the time is the decade or so preceding the Civil War, the tone 'high fantastical.' Daniel Quinn is a self-reliant orphan; plucky, ambitious and in love. 'Narrative is not the essence here,' commented PW of this 'richly packed' novel. 'It is Quinn' s endless, apparently effortless invention that dazzles, like a virtuoso musician improvising.' -- Publisher's Weekly Daniel Quinn, America's foremost Civil War reporter, recalls his adolescent years in and around Albany, New York, and his 15-year pursuit of the mysterious Maud Fallon, a theater star world-renowned for her nude interpretations of Byron and Keats. Quinn has a newsman's eye for detail, and history buffs will enjoy his accounts of the anti-draft riots, the underground railroad, and Saratoga racing in its heyday. However, as in the rest of the 'Albany cycle,' real people and events take on an almost mythological significance. Set a century earlier than his other novels, and written in a bombastic prose style reminiscent of 19th-century journalese, this novel will surprise fans of the Depression-era Kennedy. While too full of loose ends to be judged a complete success, this is nevertheless an important work of fiction. -- Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch., Los Angeles, Library Journal