Let the Great World Spin

McCann, Colum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408810921 ISBN 13: 9781408810927

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2010

New York, August 1974: a man is walking in the sky. Between the newly built Twin Towers, the man twirls through the air. Far below, the lives of complete strangers spin towards each other: Corrigan, a radical Irish monk working in the Bronx; Claire, a delicate Upper East Side housewife reeling from the death of her son; Lara, a drug-addled young artist; Gloria, solid and proud despite decades of hardship; Tillie, a hooker who used to dream of a better life; and Jazzlyn, her beautiful daughter raised on promises that reach beyond the skyline of New York. In the shadow of one reckless and beautiful act, these disparate lives will collide, and be transformed for ever.

Review:

'An astonishing balancing act by a great writer prepared to take risks. A book to treasure' Daily Mail 'A blockbuster, groundbreaking, heartbreaking, symphony of a novel ... No novelist writing of New York has climbed higher, dived deeper' Frank McCourt 'McCann has reinvented the city of New York in all its breathing, fighting, whining, joyous clamour' Peter Carey, Observer Books of the Year 'A wow of a novel - rich, humane, brilliantly written and as deep as it is wide' The Times

Book Description:

`This is a gorgeous book, multilayered and deeply felt, and it's a damned lot of fun to read, too. Leave it to an Irishman to write one of the greatest-ever novels about New York. There's so much passion and humour and pure lifeforce on every page of Let the Great World Spin that you'll find yourself giddy, dizzy, overwhelmed'