Winter's Tale

Brief Description: One night, Peter Lake--orphan, master-mechanic, and master second-story man--attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side. Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the affair between the middle-aged Irish burglar and Beverly Penn, a young girl who is dying. Because of a love that at first he cannot fully understand, Peter, a simple and uneducated man, will be driven "to stop time and bring back the dead." His great struggle, in New York City of the Belle Epoque, ever alight with its own energy and beset by winter, is a truly beautiful and extraordinary story. Publisher Marketing: This is a book about the beauty and complexity of the human soul, about God, love, and justice, and yet you can lose yourself in it as if it were a dream. You will be transported to New York of the Belle Epoque, to a city clarified by a siege of unprecedented winters. One night, Peter Lake orphan, master-mechanic, and master second-story man attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side. Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the affair between the middle-aged Irish burglar and Beverly Penn, a young girl who is dying. Because of a love that at first he cannot fully understand, Peter, a simple and uneducated man, will be driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and beset by winter, is a truly beautiful and extraordinary story.

Contributor Bio:  Helprin, Mark Mark Helprin was educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford and served in the Israeli Army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of, among other titles, A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Refiner s Fire, Winter s Tale, and A Soldier of the Great War. He lives in Virginia. Contributor Bio:  Wyman, Oliver Oliver Wyman, a native New Yorker, has appeared on stage as well as in film, and television. He is one of the founders of New York City's Collective Unconscious theater, and his performances include the award-winning "reality play" "Charlie Victor Romeo" and A. R. McElhinney's cult classic film "A Chronicle of Corpses". He also lent his voice to several episodes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oliver's work as a narrator extends to over 150 audiobooks and has won many him awards, including Audie awards for his reading of Lance Armstrong's autobiography, "It's Not About the Bike", and Thomas L. Friedman's "The World is Flat". He also read James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces", Tim Dorsey's "Atomic Lobster", and David Weber's "By Schism Rent Asunder". Oliver has won five Audie Awards from the Audio Publisher's Association, fourteen Earphone Awards from "AudioFile" "Magazine", and two Listen Up Awards from "Publisher's Weekly. "Oliver was named a 2008 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture by "AudioFile Magazine".