Six years after the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize—winning Empire Falls, Richard Russo returns with a novel that expands even further his widely heralded achievement. Louis Charles (“Lucy”) Lynch has spent all his sixty years in upstate Thomaston, New York, married to the same woman, Sarah, for forty of them, their son now a grown man. Like his late, beloved father, Lucy is an optimist, though he’s had plenty of reasons not to be–chief among them his mother, still indomitably alive. Yet it was her shrewdness, combined with that Lynch optimism, that had propelled them years ago to the right side of the tracks and created an “empire” of convenience stores about to be passed on to the next generation. Lucy and Sarah are also preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, where his oldest friend, a renowned painter, has exiled himself far from anything they’d known in childhood. In fact, the exact nature of their friendship is one of the many mysteries Lucy hopes to untangle in the “history” he’s writing of his hometown and family. And with his story interspersed with that of Noonan, the native son who’d fled so long ago, the destinies building up around both of them (and Sarah, too) are relentless, constantly surprising, and utterly revealing.
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"Russo has become one of my favorite novelists, so I'm slowly going back and reading novels of his I've missed. This is a big, sweeping tale of two men who grow up in a small upstate New York town and whose lives--through family problems, love affairs, childhood travails and the big questions of life and love--are inextricably entwined, even more than they realize. You come to thoroughly know and love these two, as well as their extended circle of friends and family. This is not a plot-driven novel; it's a character study, and a long one at that, but worth sticking out to the end."
— Nick (5 out of 5 stars)
" A wonderful novel. Beautifully written and completely engaging. Who would have thought that you could grow to love such a totally unremarkable character as Lou C. (aka "Lucy") Lynch -- a genial, simple-minded, home-loving convenience store owner who had his father's goofy smile and overly-optimistic view of life? Chapter by chapter, Russo reveals Lucy's story with intricate detail, charm and depth. I was sorry to be done with this one. "
— Theresa, 2/19/2014" I only recently started reading Richard Russo's books - this is the third I have read. (after Elsewhere and Nobody's Fool). He manages to make all his characters very individual and the writing is excellent. "
— Lis, 2/18/2014" Well narrated on audio. Similar in style to Empire Falls but not quite as good. Reflections on small town life and the universal themes in it that relate to all of us. "
— Dana, 2/17/2014" I've read every Richard Russo book except one. Bridge of Sighs is not among his best. "
— Janet, 2/12/2014" I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. Perhaps it's where I am, perhaps it's just that reading about the angsty lives of failed American males in mid-life crisis is not interesting to me, but for whatever reason, Russo didn't draw me in to this novel. Hard for me to understand how Russo's notes can ring so clearly with Empire Falls and Straight Man, but miss in another moment. I think I just didn't feel like I was the audience for this book. Others, I concede, may love it. "
— Deidre, 2/9/2014" I never felt very engaged with the characters. I wanted more of Bobby and Sarah but less of Lucy. I love Russo's work, and I expected something close to the quality of "Empire Falls" or "Straight Man". Too much time was spent on uninteresting characters in my opinion. The flow of the narrative was smooth as I never felt he lingered or beat to death a particular subject or time. The relationship between Lou & his mother was very interesting and made me consider the family relations I experience and how much undercurrent there is where emotions lie and feelings are not expressed. "
— Pedro, 2/1/2014" This guy is the real deal...he can write about small town living like nobody's business. If you grew up in a little town like I did, with the corner stores and everybody knew everyone else's business, you can identify with this book. Captivating characters that you really felt like you knew as the story rolls on. Richard Russo is now officially one of my new favorite authors that somehow I've missed reading for years and years. I'll be rectifying that mistake here very soon. "
— Marybeth, 1/23/2014" Maybe not his best but thought-provoking, "
— Maureen, 1/16/2014" What I love about Richard Russo is that he writes stories about really simple people, but he makes them so compelling. I really enjoyed this one--it definitely resonated for me being from a small town. It's so fascinating how much our paths are affected by where we come from. "
— Molly, 1/11/2014" Not nearly as good as Empire Falls. "
— Natalie, 1/9/2014" A big sweeping book that takes place (in part, at least) somewhere other than upstate New York. (Hint: It's Venice. The bridge and the canal give it away. Oh, wait. SPOILER ALERT. Sorry about that.) "
— John, 12/28/2013Richard Russo is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, two collections of stories, and the memoir Elsewhere. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which, like Nobody’s Fool, won multiple awards for its screen adaptation, and in 2023 his novel Straight Man was adapted into the television series Lucky Hank. In 2017, he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine.
Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine “Best Of” Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.