The Lincoln Highway

By: Amor Towles

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham

Brought to you by Penguin.

The best-selling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America.

In June, 1954, 18-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served 15 months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction - to the city of New York.

Spanning just 10 days and told from multiple points of view, Towles' third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters and themes.

©2021 Amor Towles (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Read in reverse

I read A Gentleman in Moscow first. |As a first time listener of audible I found it riveting. The Lincoln Highway next I found the final chapter of the book dissappointing. I hope that there will be a sequal to this story.

Uplifting

My friend who recommended this book to me wrote “Have been reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, it's like a fairly tale. Loving it. Very descriptive writing. You can see it all. It's so gentle, when things could go wrong, they don't. A balm.”
I concur.

A new American classic

Just came to the end of The Lincoln Highway and I did not want to switch off the Studebaker engine. Wanted the highway to roll on forever with all those detours and doublebacks and pitstops and cliffhangers. Echoes of Huckleberry Finn and, of course, the Odyssey and William Faulkner, Steinbeck, Kerouac and even Ken Kesey. It was a fabulous ride. What a craftsman is Amor Towles? Such story-telling, suspense, taxonomy. Already a fan of A Gentleman in Moscow I began this journey, confidently with him as my guide. He did not disappoint. Bloody loved it!
Read beautifully by all 3 narrators.

An Unexpected Surprise

I loved this book. It was slow and full of descriptive detail that took me as the reader into almost every scene in a visceral way. The depth of the story was unexpected and refreshing in its simple complexity or complex simplicity. It’s a book I’ll listen to again.

Detailed characterisation.

Towels has a way of crafting his characters in such detail, that you know them as if they were your closest family! This is a delightful quest story that is simply unputdownable! It has wonderful twists and turns, with characters sometimes heading in surprising directions. Highly recommended light entertainment.