It's June 1954 and Emmett Watson is returning home from prison having hit a man who then fell and hit his head on the kerb and died.. Emmett's father has just died, the family farm is in foreclosure and he is now the guardian of his 8 year-old brother, With nothing left of the family home, Emmett decides to take Billy to California to track down their mother who left them when they were young. They will take the Lincoln Highway to get there. It sounds like a good plan until Woolly and Duchess, two of Emmett's fellow inmates, appear, having stowed away in Emmett's car. They persuade Emmett to go to New York instead where Woolly's relatives is buried with a small fortune. Thus the adventure unfolds.
I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable road trip that was packed full of adventures on freight train, a magical circus, the Empire State Building just to name three. There were encounters with other characters with their own extraordinary tales as well such as Ulysses who was searching for his wife and child, the evil Pastor John and to offset him, some very lovely nuns, Sally, Emmett and Billy's neighbour and close friend who brought some well needed practicality along the way. Things that concerned me slightly: we have a brothel scene, but to be fair to the author, he turns it all into a bit of a farce so it isn't quite so offensive, and while Catholics get off quite lightly, other Christian denominations are giving a bit of a bashing which I felt very sad about. Apart from these two slight concerns, I can't recommend this book enough - I loved it..

If, like me, you loved A Gentleman in Moscow, that's wonderful, but The Lincoln Highway is not the same kind of novel. Best not to enter into it with preconceived notions as that is surely a road leading to disappointment. Go forth with an open mind and let The Lincoln Highway's unique beauty and wisdom enrich your life.

Eighteen year old, Emmett, and his younger brother, Billy, live on a farm in 1954 Nebraska. Life has not been kind to them. Their mother left when Billy was small, their father recently passed leaving them in debt (losing the family farm in the process) and Emmett has just been released from a youth detention facility serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter. What is their plan going forward? To hop in Emmett's Studebaker and drive to California in search of their mother. A worthy goal until their plans are thrown in the air with a surprise visit by Duchess and Woolly, Emmett's compatriots from the youth facility.

The Lincoln Highway is a rich story full of heart, humor and wisdom. Surprisingly, the greatest wisdom comes from Woolly, a slightly medicated, gentle, character who grew up in the bosom of a well-to-do family. He sees the best of every situation and person. It is wonderful to follow him on his journey and spend time reminiscing on his younger years with his much loved extended family.

The journey Emmett and Billy undertake is not unlike that of Ulysses in that the path to the final destination is a bumpy and varied one that brings a multitude of mini adventures. I so enjoyed the many characters we meet along the way and the valuable lessons they bestow upon the brothers. No, this is not the same as A Gentleman in Moscow, but the gentle humor and life's unexpected challenges which enrich the journey are just as rewarding and delightful.

Emmett has just finished his sentence and on his way back home to his young brother Billy in Nebraska; they intend to make a new start in California. This promises a journey of adventure in itself.

However, two of Emmett’s convict acquaintances have stowed away and join him on his journey – which becomes a jam packed American road trip, full of juicy characters, crime, shady dealings, and above all for Emmett the hope for stability, family and an honest life.

I loved this. The characters are all brilliantly written, they jump off the page and wind you up or make you love them. Emmett and Billy try to follow the road to common sense, but they are tangled up by Duchess and Woolly, the two convicts – Duchess out for all he can get, and Woolly a real innocent naïve and tragic individual. The journey doesn’t follow the straight line of the Lincoln Highway, but takes them off on many and diverse entertaining tangents. Highly recommended – one of the best books I’ve read for a long time.

I have mixed feelings about this book. A Gentleman in Moscow was always going to be a hard act to follow, and unfortunately this latest novel from Amor Towles just doesn’t quite manage it. Having said that, I did enjoy it, and it offers an original and inventive narrative, with some interesting characters. It’s set in 1954, when 18-year-old Emmett arrives home from the work facility where he has been serving a year’s sentence for involuntary manslaughter. His mother has gone, his father has recently died and the family farm has been foreclosed by the bank. Emmet intends to pick up his (remarkably and sometimes annoyingly precocious) 8 year-old brother and travel west to embark on a new life. But when 2 companions from the work farm arrive unexpectedly on his doorstep, Emmett’s simple plan suddenly becomes more complicated and over the next 10 days we accompany the unlikely quartet as they travel across the country on an unlikely quest. It’s a picaresque tale, with many an unexpected twist and turn, not to mention some violence, and Emmett veers from being too mature to being too naïve. A good read overall, but one in which it’s easy to pick holes, as some of it really puts credibility to the test. Best to simply read and enjoy rather than think about too much.

Amor Towles is a brilliant storyteller and The Lincoln Highway just confirms it once more.
In many ways this is a return to the style and some of the themes explored in his debut. It is very much about the American Dream, of second beginnings, of being able to just up and leave and still make something of yourself.

For me this is a ritualistic coming of age, a story of reckoning with ones past, a story of friendship and love between mates and siblings, a story about life that at times has a way of trowing all sorts of obstacles in your way. The cast of characters is very eclectic, their actions not always believable - but that adds a sort of mythological vibe to the story, very much in line with the stories Billy loves so much! I truly loved each and every character. I have suffered along them for the unfairness of life, for the suffering it inflicted on them, but I also enjoyed their happy moments and rooted for them to finally have a bit of normality in their life. My heart has been broken over and over again, and that end...oh my word!!!

What a fabulous book. Never read Amor Towles before but I now wonder why not. I was captivated from the first and really only wanted the story to be about Emmett and Billy but then I found myself immersed in Woolly and Duchess' lives not to mention Sally and all the other fascinating “extras”.
Never think you know what will happen next because this tale is full of surprises. Some I loved and some I did not want but always the author pulled me into wanting more. Especially at the end which in truth is just the beginning!

What a book! In typical Amor Towles style this is a slow burn and I found myself wondering when the story was going to pick up but boy does it deliver with the story line becoming ever more connected and after paced and finishing in a rousing crescendo incorporating everyone from the heroes of Ancient Greece to the motley cast of characters involved. This is another winner for Towles, thoroughly enjoyable and an excellent story.

@HutchHeinemann, a lovely book, perfect for those of us that love a descriptive character led novel. I had never heard of the Lincoln Highway and Emmett and Billy's sometimes calamitous journey made me laugh and cry! Very often I thought I had correctly judged a characters behaviour only to turn the page and realise I had pegged them all wrong. I haven't yet read A Gentleman in Moscow as I felt it may have been over hyped but it is high on my wish list now.

An atmospheric read with wonderful period details, engaging characters and a quest-like structure. By the end, you’ll hope that Emmett and Willy get everything they’ve dreamt of.

Thank you so much to the publisher for allowing me to read this book on Netgalley. I read Amor Towles A Gentleman In Moscow last year, and immediately Count Alexander Rostov became one of my favourite literary characters ever. So I was so excited when I heard the synopsis of this new book.

This was a good old fashioned escapade, full of adventure. When Emmett and Billy pack up the Studebaker and head out on the road, we're taken along for the ride on an epic American road trip. The Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental highways across the States spanning from New York to California.

Nothing goes to plan for Emmett after two friends from the work farm turn up, having escaped and wanting an adventure of their own. Duchess and Woolly are planning on finding $150,000 of hidden money from Woolly's wealthy family and promise to split the loot 3 ways with Emmett. Along the way all kinds of mishaps happen and trouble gotten into. But the characters are all so loveable, especially the brothers. I loved their bond. And another fantastic character called Ulysses comes to the rescue.

At 608 pages this is a big book, but at no point did it feel overwhelming. You just get lost in the story. A memorable and highly enjoyable tale. Although I'm not sure how I feel about the ending which is why I'm giving it 4 stars, so close to 5 stars!

Emmett is released from his sentence at a juvenile camp as his father has died and he needs to look after his brother Billy. he is shocked when two friends from the camp, Duchess and Wolly, escape to join him. They have a mad-cap idea to travel to the Adirondacks to takes Woolly's legacy money and need Emmett's car to make it happen. Along the way the group are separated and rejoined, they are forced to face their past and their responsibilities, and make new friends. However for Billy and Emmett, all they want to do is follow the Lincoln Highway to California to start their new lives.
This is a wonderful book. The pace never flags, the characters are carefully and sympathetically drawn and the reader wants them to succeed. As a reflection of America in the 1950s it hits home, particularly in the contrast between rich and poor, country and city. Even the ending is both unexpected and also feels right.

I finished Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway a few days ago and thought that after letting it stew a few days, I’d know what to say about it in an articulate manner.

Well, screw that. This book is FLIPPING BEAUTIFUL!!!! I loved it so so much. It’s easily one of the best, if not THE best book I’ve read all year and possibly beyond.

Amor Towles is a man who can write. I was carried along on the epic journey of Emmett, Billy, Duchess and Woolly, eager to get to the ending and yet not wanting it to stop. Their journey takes them along the Lincoln Highway, the first cross-country road built in the US, to right some wrongs, to call in some debts, and, ultimately, to find Emmett and Billy’s mother, who left them when Billy was just a baby, on the 4th of July somewhere in San Francisco.

The three older boys met each other at a youth correctional facility for crimes not entirely of their own making. They each have a very strong, if not always entirely reliable, moral compass that guides their actions from their first meeting after Emmett’s release to the very last moments of the book.

As you’d imagine, along their journey the boys encounter numerous mishaps, some of their own making, others unwittingly, along with some savoury and some less-so characters, eager to share their own life lessons with this motley crew.

Perhaps the boys’ actions and encountered conundrums aren’t always entirely believable, but I didn’t care one ounce. The writing is so beautiful, the characters so memorable and the story so epic, moving, funny and wise, that it has easily gained a top spot for the year. And Amor Towles has firmly embedded himself as one of my favourite contemporary writers!

First book I have read by Amor Towles and I was mightily impressed.

There are multiple characters who keep comign across each other during the course of this raod trip through 1950's America, The prose of Towles ,makes you feel you are there with Emmett, Duchess, Billy and the rest.

A book that you can escape into and really enjoy. Highly recommended.

This road has many bumps.
Loved this book, such endearing, wayward characters, some with a hidden agenda but mostly well intentioned.
Emmett, Woolly and Duchess all inmates of Selena prison/reform institute. Emmett there because of an accidental killing, Woolly because of a misjudgment and Duchess mostly bad luck.
Emmett is granted early release due to the death of his Father, he needs to take responsibly for his younger brother Billy, when he gets home he finds the farm must be sold to cover debts. Woolly and Duchess arrive and hatch a plan to get Woolly's sizable inheritance and divide it between them.
Billy is a lovable, intuitive character whose philosophy is based on a book of myths and much more by Professor Abernathe. He wants to find his Mother who left them following a severe bout of depression when both boys were young. They plan to follow the Lincoln Highway, meeting up with Ulysses and other good and bad people on the way.
This book has a sort of innocence and wonder about it, who could not love kind hearted, slow Woolly? Honest Emmett, Duchess trying to balance the moral books and Billy the trusting innocent?
Thank you Amor and NetGalley.

I've read Amor Towles' other books and enjoyed them, so had high expectations for The Lincoln Highway. Well, I wasn't disappointed. This is an amazing book. The language - especially that of Duchess - flows and swirls and carries the reader along with it. The characters are all fully realised and leap into life on the page.

It's the story of a road trip - but not the one the main character, Emmett, sets out on. The essentially law-abiding Emmett is drawn into schemes he'd rather not be part of; he's duped and manipulated by Duchess, gets into violent scrapes, and all the time he tries to keep his younger brother Billy safe. Billy is precocious - perhaps more so than any eight-year-old could be - and he's the wise one, guiding Emmett through some difficult situations.

I was surprised at the ending - was not expecting it - but over all I loved this book. Loved the characters and loved the style.

Magnificent.

Not going to lie though, this book was long….Well by my standards anyway. Probably no one else’s!😅Having said that, this is one epic American adventure and I felt connected with the story and cared about the characters. The writing was stupendous (what a great word 😆) and I say that as it was storytelling at his finest. It takes in different characters POV, it delves into a time in history which I find fascinating (the American dream hey 😎), it’s packed full of emotion, drama and there are a number of lol moments thanks to the cast of wonderful, complex characters. There is so much about family in there, as well as friendship and hope. A bit of philosophy and redemption thrown in which makes the book thought-provoking or it did for me anyway.

It was a big book and took me nearly a week to finish. I’m not used to big books 😅 I did feel that the author provided a lot of detail and backstory about each character which maybe at times wasn’t needed. That’s my opinion. Also wasnt a huge fan of the ending. Think I had it in my head how it would go and it didn’t go that way but hey ho. I still enjoyed it. 😂

THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY was an adventure and coming of age story which I enjoy a lot so if you do too, check it out.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is a sweeping, inspirational and poignant adventure story, set in America in the 1950s.

We meet Emmet as he returns to his family farm after his early release from a young offenders' work farm due to the the death of his father. When he arrives, the bank manager is waiting there to foreclose on his father's loans and take possession of the farm. Emmet resolves to leave town with his younger brother and start again somewhere with better prospects and away from those who still resent his crime. As Emmet strives to keep to his plan despite numerous setbacks, we follow the twists and turns of their eventful road trip, told from the various viewpoints of the people who become involved in their journey.

A gloriously cinematic portrait of 1950s America and a beautiful exploration of the complicated stories and motivations which are driving each of the characters, the judgments we are prone to make and the differences between how we perceive people, how they wish to be perceived, and the truth underlying their actions, drawing comparisons with famous heroes through time.

This book starts with 18 year old Emmet returning to his family farm following the death of his father. He is being driven home by the warden of the work farm where he has been serving time for involuntary manslaughter.
We are introduced to Emmet’s younger brother Billy, the neighbour and the neighbour’s daughter Sally.

The story seems to be unrolling gently in the direction of a road trip until we discover that two other inhabitants of the Salina work farm have stowed away unnoticed in the warden’s car with the intention of joining Emmet in some manner of ‘adventure’.
This adds a frisson of anxiety to the story, we have no idea of these people’s intensions. Will Emmet’s visions of a new life be destroyed by the company he keeps? Will it, as my Grandmother used to say, ‘All end in tears’?

But the story does not take the expected direction and while these new companions complicate Emmet’s plans, melodrama is pushed to the side and we are reassured by the author’s calm, careful prose, as our heroes sensibly skirt several possible disasters and continue their journey.

Then about two thirds of the way through the narrative seems to lose its way, lack a natural conclusion. When you realise what is happening it is a shock, the ending discordant and jarring.

The story is told from several different points of view, each with their own distinct voice, and along the way we encounter may interesting and appealing characters, people who for the most part display intelligence and generosity of spirit. Sally’s character was a particular standout, although I did feel she could have been further developed.
The author seems to be trying to create a fable about flawed heroes, to connect the characters’ journey with the heroes in Billy’s book but it never quite works.

This is definitely a book worth reading, the author’s prose is always a pleasure.
It is just not the literary delight I have come to expect from Amor Towles.

A triumph in its depiction of 1950s America. The Lincoln Highway unveils depth of character, a myriad of powerful stories and a solid sense of place and time. The pace is tantalisingly slow; not driven by action. The multiple narrative perspectives often overlap, repeating elements from another viewpoint, which serves to layer an extra dimension to the story rather than seem repetitive.
The book begins with Emmet returning from juvenile detention to the family farm after the death of his father. The bank welcomes him home to a foreclosure on the property. Emmet and his young brother are no longer tethered to the town and aim to head off west in search of new beginnings. At least that is the intention. Two unplanned stowaways join the party and this motley crew form a beautifully imperfect tableau of wonderful and eccentric characters. The three young men and one small intelligent boy find themselves on a series of adventures over the course of 10days. Their progress is interspersed with tales from Billy's precious red book of "Professor Abacus Abernathe's Compendium of Heroes, Adventures and Intrepid Travellers". There are parallels to be drawn between the tales of ancient Greek heroes and the four protagonists meandering through their own fantastical journey.
Towels is a master of sophisticated story telling. At almost 600 pages, this is an ambitious, and epic multidimensional novel that rises to a satisfying climatic close. In simple terms, it is a modern classic. #TheLincolnHighway #AmorTowles #Netgalley

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

I loved this book. I had no idea what it would be like other than the blurb ("Emmett returns home to pick-up his little brother Billy, tie-up his late father's estate and get out of town for good. Since leaving the Kansas youth facility where he's served time, Emmett has wanted one thing: to give them both a fresh start - and that means heading out to the sparkling west.

Young, precocious Billy has plans of his own - to get to San Francisco, where he believes their long-estranged mother is waiting for them. However, as soon as they've loaded Emmett's bright blue Studebaker with their few belongings, trouble arrives and brings its sidekick in the form of Duchess and Woolly, two runaways from the very facility Emmett just left behind him.

Insatiable Duchess and his devoted, but slow companion Woolly soon wreck Billy's plan to get onto the open road, one well-intentioned blunder at a time. Each young man sees this journey as his chance to pursue his dreams, settle scores and find riches. And a simple journey quickly becomes a dazzling odyssey filled with obstacles, villains and ruses fit only for heroes to overcome.

Bursting with life, charm and unforgettable characters, The Lincoln Highway is an extraordinary journey through 1950s America from a master storyteller.")

and I was entranced and swept up in the story from the opening. It tells the story of Emmett and his brother, Billy, their neighbour Sally and Duchess and Woolly who Emmett met in the juvenile delinquent home in Salina. Their stories intersect and wind and we meet wonderful characters on the road. Each character, main and supporting, is an absolute peach and the story of how they never quite cross the Lincoln Highway is enchanting. You learn American history, are reminded of Greek myths and other epic adventurers. Beautifully written and plotted it's quite simply a perfect novel. I would recommend this to anyone who loves character driven stories and exquisite description. I loved my time in this book,