The Last Days of Night: A Novel
- ISBN-10
- 0812988914
- ISBN-13
- 9780812988918
- Series
- The Last Days of Night
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 384
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-08-16
- Publisher
- Random House
- Author
- Graham Moore
Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla.”—Erik Larson “A model of superior historical fiction . . . an exciting, sometimes astonishing story.”—The Washington Post From Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and New York Times bestselling author of The Sherlockian, comes a thrilling novel—based on actual events—about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America. New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? The case affords Paul entry to the heady world of high society—the glittering parties in Gramercy Park mansions, and the more insidious dealings done behind closed doors. The task facing him is beyond daunting. Edison is a wily, dangerous opponent with vast resources at his disposal—private spies, newspapers in his pocket, and the backing of J. P. Morgan himself. Yet this unknown lawyer shares with his famous adversary a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it? In obsessive pursuit of victory, Paul crosses paths with Nikola Tesla, an eccentric, brilliant inventor who may hold the key to defeating Edison, and with Agnes Huntington, a beautiful opera singer who proves to be a flawless performer on stage and off. As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER “A satisfying romp . . . Takes place against a backdrop rich with period detail . . . Works wonderfully as an entertainment . . . As it charges forward, the novel leaves no dot unconnected.”—Noah Hawley, The New York Times Book Review
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
The Last Days of Night: A Novel
By Graham MooreWhen electric light innovator Thomas Edison sues his only remaining rival for patent infringement, George Westinghouse hires untested Columbia Law School graduate Paul Ravath for a case fraught with lies, betrayals, and deception.
-
The Sherlockian
By Graham MooreHurtling from present day New York to Victorian London, The Sherlockian weaves the history of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into an inspired and entertaining double mystery that proves to be anything but "elementary.
-
Last Night at the Lobster
By Stewart O'NanStewart O'Nan has been called "the bard of the working class," and Last Night at the Lobster is a poignant yet redemptive look at what a man does when he discovers that his best might not be good enough.
-
Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World
By Jill JonnesAt the heart of the story are Thomas Alva Edison, the nation’s most famous and folksy inventor, creator of the incandescent light bulb and mastermind of the world’s first direct current electrical light networks; the Serbian wizard of ...
-
The Last Days: A Novel
By Scott WesterfeldAs an ancient evil stirs beneath the streets of New York City, infecting rats and people like a plague, five quirky teens come together to form a "New Sound" band whose music seems to have paranormal power.
-
Night
By Elie WieselNight
-
The Holdout: A Novel
By Graham MooreAs the present-day murder investigation entwines with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out—with drastic consequences ...
-
Last Watch of the Night: Essays Too Personal and Otherwise
By Paul MonetteThe answer is a resounding “yes” for the individuals who populate this stunning work of nonfiction. These ten autobiographical essays memorialize those whose lives have been claimed by AIDS.
-
Summer of Night: A Novel
By Dan SimmonsThis masterfully crafted horror classic, featuring a brand-new introduction by Dan Simmons, will bring you to the edge of your seat, hair standing on end and blood freezing in your veins It's the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm ...
-
At Day's Close: Night in Times Past
By A. Roger EkirchStephen Cornfield (Cambridge, 1989), 122; Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, trans. H. A. Hargreaves (Berkeley, Calif, 1990), 10; W. Goethe, ItalianJour~ ney,1786-1788 (New York, 1968), 182; ...