Having adored A Gentleman in Moscow I was excited to start Amor Towles’s The Lincoln Highway. He writes about the great American dream and the hopes of Americans in the 1950s. Multilayered and full of of hope, despair and optimism this beautifully written novel absorbs the reader throughout with fabulously explored characters and a humorous and engaging story.
Thanks to Netgalley and @HutchHeinemann Random House U.K.

The Lincoln Highway is a perfect slice of American nostalgia, with multiple narrators leading the reader through an ill fated road-trip. Central to the storyline is the relationship between Emmett and Billy, siblings who aim to drive to California in search of their estranged mother after the death of their father. Towles so completely conjures up the essence of small town America, that you feel as if you are an extra passenger in Emmett's blue Studebaker. The literal and figurative wrong turns that the young men take during the course of the book are heartbreakingly drawn. Emmett, Woolly and Duchess, all young offenders, have been convicted of crimes that on a different day might not have been judged so harshly - destiny has a habit of setting a path that it is hard to deviate from, decisions made stick for a lifetime. The Lincoln Highway is a beautiful book, that is a joy to read, echoing the wanderings of Steinbeck or Twain, when the past and present collide, who knows where you might end up.

What a delightful storyteller Amor Towles is. The Lincoln Highway is a character driven delight that is part coming of age and part never ending road trip.

18 year old Emmett Watson has been granted early release from serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the Salina, Kansas Youth Correction Unit. Warden Williams is driving him to Nebraska where he will have to take care of his somewhat precocious eight year old brother, Billy. Emmett’s father has died from cancer and the bank has foreclosed on the family farm. The boys’ mum left years ago, but Billy has ideas about tracking her down and he fully expects Emmett to get on board.

With nowhere to live and the threat of retribution hanging over him from the actions that sent him to juvie correction in the first place, (he punched a boy at the fair who then tripped, struck his head on a concrete block and died), Emmett decides that heading to California is as good a plan as any. A postcard trail leading to San Francisco offers hope for finding their mother and the plan is that they’ll take Emmett’s baby blue Studebaker and travel to California down the Lincoln Highway. Emmett is a planner and he works out every step of this journey complete with timings breaks and all that’s reuired to get them there by following his trusty map.

Eight year old Billy is ready for this adventure and he’s brought his alphabetic tales of heroes with him. Professor Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers and Other Intrepid Travelers is his guide and mentor and nothing can go wrong in this world of heroes.

But life isn’t that simple. A couple of prison stowaways have plans of their own. The warden is hardly away before the pair of stowaways ‘Duchess’ and the aptly named ‘Woolly’ have plans of their own. Woolly’s family are well off but have stripped him of his trust fund. Duchess and Woolly have plans to get it back, mostly by stealing it, and they need transport to get there.

Duchess is a showman; a decent chap who, like his dad is fond of a drop, but one who cannot think ahead and never stops to consider the impact of the decisions he takes. Dropped off by his dad at an orphanage when he was 8 years old, Duchess has learned to use his charm and smart tongue by telling fantastic stories and Woolly is a simple soul, happy to tag along.

Emmett really does not want to join these two reprobates but to keep the peace he agrees to drive them to the bus station in Omaha; a detour on the way to California, but not such a huge one. But Duchess, who asks for yet another detour on their way to the bus station, steals Emmett’s Studebaker and so Emmett and Billy’s adventures begin.

The Lincoln Highway is really a story about never getting to California. It is a delightful, sometimes fantastical tale about the journey not the destination. It’s the kind of journey where plans are thwarted, mettle is tested and a plethora of weird and wonderful characters cross their paths, including Ulysses, a homeless man endlessly travelling across America in hopes of reaching his family. Billy’s heroes’ book becomes all important so much so that the boys track down the author to the Empire State Building.

Duchess is the first person narrator, but there are a number of different perspectives to keep in your head which helps you to understand the different motivation of each character. As Emmett constantly calculates and recalculates his journey to California the boys find themselves jumping on and off boxcars and into cars for a series of swashbuckling adventures where Billy is able to show his smarts and save them all.

Towles has produced a book that is full of rich and wonderful characters and where having unexpected adventures is the whole point of living your life, not constantly working out how to get where you’re going. It’s a book about the great American dream; full of atmosphere and the hopes and dreams of Americans for the 1950’s. It is full of hope and optimism and the fantastical things that happen are part of the fight between good and evil that is necessary in order for hope to triumph.

Verdict: There are flights of fancy wild and fantastical adventures and some convenient coincidences but The Lincoln Highway is genuinely delightful, rich and entertaining. It has a heart as big as an ocean and characters that spring to life, large and wondrous. I loved it.

Emmett Watson, newly released from a youth correctional facility, returns home to his 8 year old brother Billy (his father being dead) and the bank foreclosing on his home.
The boys plan to start a new life in California, driving ‘The Lincoln Highway’, but things go awry right from the start.
The story is full of quirky characters, and sections are told from various points of view. It
There is wit, tension and pathos throughout.
The nature and style of the story put me very much in mind of John Steinbeck, whose writing I love.
The characters all have disparate backstories leading them towards their place in the story.
I enjoyed this story a lot, though I thought it a bit long in places, and I would have liked to know more about what happened to some of the characters.

This book is certain to win awards and be on bestseller lists (deservedly so) for some time. So why the 4*? I'm comparing this, inevitably, with Towles's previous work: A Gentleman in Moscow, which is one of my all-time favourite books. While both books are beautifully written and have incredible, well-developed characters, there was a quirkiness, warmth and an almost-magical setting in A Gentleman in Moscow that for me is missing here. There was also a biting wit. Rules of Civility, another for Towles's books had the beautiful setting (that I seem to need?) but I don't think the writing was quite as well-developed as these last two books.

There are literary allusions throughout and the book feels pacy, even though it's in excess of 550 pages, which is no mean feat. On the other hand, there are certain elements of the book that feel unbelievable - whether that's by virtue of the coincidences along the way or because we the readers are asked to believe that literally all the characters are well-read and beautifully articulate, in spite of their backgrounds.

Overall, another delightful novel from Towles who continues to be an author who is an automatic must-read for me and in spite of the minor gripes above, is on my list of Highly Recommended novels for 2021.

A 1950's road trip involving interesting and disparate characters who all were looking for something or someone. An excellent read. Amor Towles has delivered another brilliant book. One of my favourites of 2021.

I read A Gentleman in Moscow a few years ago and loved the rich characters and the way the book captured the times within which the story was set. So I was very excited to have the opportunity to read The Lincoln Highway via #netgalley

It’s 1954 and Emmett Watson has just been released from a young offenders institute, Salina, following the death of his father. He is returned home to take guardianship of his younger brother Billy, but knows they can’t stay in their home town of Nebraska after the crime that sent him away.

So the boys hatch a plan to travel the Lincoln Highway, the first road to cross the USA coast to coast, to see if they can find their mother who left them eight years before. But their plans are scuppered by the arrival of two escaped inmates from Salina - Duchess and Woolley, and their escapades take a very different turn.

I was enraptured by the story. Each of the characters have been created with care and depth, from the main protagonists that we follow throughout, to the supporting cast who add richness to the story line, intrigue and suspense.

I loved that the book switched between different points of view, and particularly loved when we heard from Billy and Ulysses- both heroes in their own special ways.

I’d highly recommend this great read that will transport you to the adventures and attempts for redemption of the young men involved.

In June 1954, due to the death of his father, Emmett Watson is driven home by his warden from a juvenile detention camp having served time for involuntary manslaughter. His 8 year old brother Billy is eagerly awaiting his return with a plan to take to the Lincoln Highway in Emmetts precious Studebaker in search of their mother.
Almost as soon as they decide on their plan, the discovery of Duchess and Woolly friends and stowaways from the detention camp turns their trip 180...
Told over ten days and from multiple characters pov this road trip novel shows that you can plan all you want but sometimes life just takes you in another direction. You never know who you're going to meet or what is going to happen on any given day. With Billy guided by his copy of 'Professor Abacus Abernathes Compendium of Heroes, Adventures and other Intrepid Travellers' and Woollys longing for a 'one of a kind' kind of day there is an adventure along every mile of The Lincoln Highway.

I love a road-trip novel even when they don't add anything to the genre. The Lincoln Highway is a case in point. When it comes to storytelling, Amor Towles is a class act but if you're familiar with this genre, The Lincoln Highway will be a competent, enthralling addition to it, but it doesn't take the trip into new territory. And that's fine by me.

When Emmett gets back home from his stay in a correctional, he plans to leave home with his younger brother Billy to start fresh, and Billy insists they take the Lincoln Highway to go find their mother, who left when Billy was just a baby (8 years ago).
What follows is part road trip, part comedy, part tragedy... like the heroes in Billy's book.

This story kept me reading to discover what happened to each of the characters as the story develops.
The story is told from the point of view of different characters: Emmett (the protagonist), Billy, Sally (who took care of Billy while Emmett was away), and Duchess and Woolly (friends of Emmett from the correctional) as the main ones, but as the story advances we also hear from some of the people they encounter. While some are more likeable than others, they felt deeply human and memorable, and they all had something you could empathise with. I can't recommend or praise this book enough.

This was my first book by Amor Towles, but I have had "A gentleman in Moscow" on my TBR for a while, and this has bumped it up the list significantly. I look forward to reading more from him (and hopefully a sequel to Emmett and Billy's story).

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this one although not nearly as much as A Gentleman in Moscow which I loved. It's a bit of an alternative road trip. Emmett has just been released from a year's detention on a juvenile farm/prison and has been driven to his old home by a prison warden. Emmett has big plans for his future, but his plans are hijacked when he discovers that two of his 'friends' from the work farm have hitched a ride in the boot' of the warden's car. Emmett had been determined to go straight when he got his freedom, but Woolly and Duchess think differently. Although this book is well written it dragged in places for me and I found the ending to be very abrupt.

Not sure how to score this book.
For the first third I was enthralled – it was like being wrapped on a warm blanket as I was lead along the path with Emmett, Billy et al. Lovely descriptive writing as the story gently unfolded. Four stars at this point
For the second third I was starting to get restless as the most unlikely of co-incidences and escapades carried on. Three stars here.
In the final third the plot became tedious as the protagonists pinged from one unbelievable event to another. By the end I was thinking for goodness sake just get on with it !!! 1-2 stars.

This story follows the journey of Emmett and his little brother Billy and how together with their friends Woolly and Duchess want to get to California by taking the Lincoln Highway route. But it's not that simple as it's said because they have to take a detour and more adventures arise at this change of plans.
This is my first book by Amor Towles and now I'm in love with the writing style. I loved how the characters were so well described and developed and so, you could understand their background and the motives for some of their actions. Now I really have to get and read the other book by Amor Towles.

This is a delightful book based around friendships and some quite unlikely friendships! The descriptions of New York as written from the point of view of a country boy are fantastic. I fell in love with these boys with their disparate backgrounds, all difficult in their own ways. Beautiful

A Moral Tale

This is probably the best novel I have read this year; heart-felt and humorous, wise and thought-provoking, seasoned with an element of tragedy. The story centres on a range of characters, beginning in 1950s small town Nebraska, concluding in downtown New York.

As Emmett, son of a failed farmer, is driven home from reform school where he has served a year for involuntary manslaughter, the warden advises him that unlike many of his fellows, he has the character and opportunity to turn his life around. Unbeknownst to them both Emmett will soon be reunited with two of his reform school colleagues, rootless, bohemian Duchess, and Wooley, medicated WASP, who upset Emmett’s plans to take his eight year old brother, Billy, along the Lincoln Highway, west to California. Soon, all four are on their way east instead, two in pursuit of treasure, the others to regain what is rightfully theirs.

Part picaresque road novel, part quest story, the narrative is suffused by myth and legend, literature and moral choice, heroism and villainy, and the choices which lead to each, all held together by Emmett’s wise young brother, Billy, and his guidebook, Professor Abernathe’s Compendium, which is a key element in the unfolding tale. Ulysses, The Count of Monte Cristo, the quest for the Grail are all referenced. Less explicit, but an essential influence is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The 1950s setting is pitch perfect, including the accepted moral norms of the period. There is a refreshing focus on Christian belief and practice, both positive and negative. There is also the character of Sally, the unmarried farmer’s daughter who has looked after Billy when Emmett was in reform school and who typifies determination and an ambition to make something different of herself than what is expected by the male characters of the story.

The story is told from the viewpoints of the different lead characters. For much of the novel I wondered why for most of these the tale unfolded in the third person, but for one, the well-meaning but damaged and dangerous Duchess, the first person was used. I did formulate an idea why – but I was entirely wrong, as the final chapter reveals.

Just wonderful, in every sense of the word.

Amor Towles’s novel is a wonderful tale of a road journey set in America in the 1950s which didn’t quite go to plan. It starts with 18 year old Emmett Watson being released early from a juvenile detention centre in Salina, Kansas having served a sentence for manslaughter when a single punch to a young man accidentally caused his death. Emmett’s early release is due to his father having died and the family farm in Morgen, Nebraska is now being foreclosed on by the bank due to debts on it. Emmett’s eight year old brother, Billy, has been cared for by a local lady Sally while Emmett was at the detention centre. Emmett is keen to move away as soon as possible as some locals are seeking revenge for the young man's death. Emmett is concerned that Billy will not be happy to leave Morgen but while Emmett has been gone Billy has found a nine postcards that their mother sent when she left home many years earlier. Their father had hidden the postcards from the boys so neither knew where she went. The last postcard is from California and Billy has planned a route for them to travel there in Emmett’s 1948 Studebaker which has been stored during Emmett’s absence.

Emmett and Billy are packed and set to leave town when the unexpected arrival of two of Emmett’s friends from the juvenile detention centre upsets all their best laid plans. Billy has a favourite book, Professor Abacus Abernathe's Compendium of Heroes. Adventurers and Other Intrepid Travellers, which he has read 24 times. It is a series of short stories of historical characters and modern day scientists. Amor Towles soon takes the reader on their own series of adventures as the main cast of four go on a road trip in entirely the wrong direction and much happens along the way.

This is a marvellously written book with a great cast of interesting character and never a dull moment. My only complaint is that I wanted the story to carry on and know the ultimate fate of Emmett and his brother Billy. Maybe there’ll be a part two...

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by Amor Towles and what a lovely read! As I’ve never read any of his previous works before, I’m not sure if writing without quotation marks is his thing? That’s something I don’t really like on a personal level but everyone’s different. However still a lovely read.

Admission - I loved A Gentleman in Moscow (AGIM) - the previous Amor Towles novel. It would easily make my top 3 reads in the last 2 years (so that is from 100+ books).
So I approached The Lincoln Highway (TLH) with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. Anticipation that it might just be as good as AGIM and trepidation that it would fall short. I am afraid the latter is the case.
Its not a bad book by any means - but equally, its not a patch on AGIM.
For a start, I found the structure rather annoying. Multiple voices, often recounting the same events from a different perspective - became frankly tedious and repetitive.
There were interesting characters undoubtedly and the writing is fine - Towles is a fine writer. But to me, it felt like it was trying far too hard for quirkiness. Whereas AGIM flowed and felt realistic (but also quirky), too often in TLH the plot felt forced and rather contrived.
Most disappointedly, whereas I couldn't wait to start reading the next chapter of AGIM, I had to force myself to pick up TLH and start reading - it just wasn't that entertaining or enjoyable.
A shame and I guess, maybe just too hard and act to follow?

Amor Towles has done it again! If you loved "A Gentleman in Moscow" and/or "Rules of Civility," I think you will love this one too. The road trip, odyssey style of the plot also reminded me of William Kent Krueger's "This Tender Land", if you're partial to that. I loved every bit of the almost fantastical tale of two brothers trying to make their way from Nebraska to San Francisco -- the unexpected stops, the people they meet along the way, and the stories of those people. I loved all of the characters as well, from Billy and Emmett to Ulysses and Duchess, and Towles' varied use of first and third person by character is executed masterfully.

Amor Towles has delivered again!

Honestly, while I adored A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility I was a little unsure if I’d like this one as much, the synopsis just didn’t grab me the way the others did but once I started reading I quickly realised I needn’t have worried.

The Lincoln Highway is set in 1950’s America, Emmett has just returned home after serving a year on a work farm for involuntary manslaughter and now plans to move away from his home town to make a fresh start with his young brother, Billy. At Billy’s insistence they choose San Francisco as their destination, following the route their mother took when she left them, the Lincoln Highway. However, their plans soon go awry with the arrival of Duchess and Wooly, two friends from the work farm who have managed to escape and have their own plans for Emmett!

As with everything by Towles, The Lincoln Highway is incredibly well written and utterly captivating. What I loved most about this book is how it diverted from what you initially expect, nothing quite goes as planned which keeps you guessing as to what will happen next.

This book is full of interesting and complex characters, while Emmett is the focal point of the book we also get chapters from the point of view of others, including Duchess and Wooly. By seeing each of them through the eyes of other characters and from their own point of view you come to understand and care for them all, no matter their flaws. Every character we meet has their own background and history, throughout the book you meet characters from all walks of life.

There are so many layers to this book, I particularly liked the inclusion of Billy’s book of adventurers, some real and some taken from fiction. Which at times serves as contrast and inspiration to the many of the characters. There are so many other elements packed into this book that elevates it above a standard American road trip novel. I can see why some may say this book is a bit long but I didn’t mind that, it was wonderful to just allow the story to unfold and reach its conclusion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.