What is the connection between history and personal experience, between politics and an individual life, between the myths of a time and its underlying realities? A young Australian academic finds his studies irresistibly diverted by one of America's most successful and ruthless industrialists, Henry Clay Frick. At the same time he becomes part of Moishe Feinbaum's family in a run-down New York seaside suburb, a family which deeply affects his life and makes its own intimate claim for a place in history. With great skill Julian Davies weaves the carefully retold life of Henry Clay Frick into an unusual story of New York family life. The result is a brilliant and compelling novel.
