{"product_id":"the-waterworks-9780812978193","title":"The Waterworks","description":"\"An elegant page-turner of nineteenth-century detective fiction.\"\u003cbr\u003e-The Washington Post Book World \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne 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 \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \"a dark moral tale . . . an eloquently troubling evocation of our past.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e-\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e-\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A gem of a novel, intimate as chamber music . . . a thriller guaranteed to leave readers with residual chills and shudders.\"\u003cbr\u003e-\u003ci\u003eBoston Sunday Herald\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Enthralling . . . a story of debauchery and redemption that is spellbinding from first page to last.\"\u003cbr\u003e-\u003ci\u003eChicago Sun-Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An immense, extraordinary achievement.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e-San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House Trade\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/08\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780812978193\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAccelerated Reader Quiz #\/Name: \u003c\/b\u003e70611 \/ Waterworks\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReading Level:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.9 \/ \u003cb\u003eInterest Level:\u003c\/b\u003e Upper Grade \/ \u003cb\u003ePoint Value:\u003c\/b\u003e 13\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"E. L. Doctorow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43084119212213,"sku":"9780812978193","price":15.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_ada6e4c8-3a63-4441-85c5-c70d83bb8dda.jpg?v=1692110821","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-waterworks-9780812978193","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}