Homer And Langley

Brilliant brothers Langley and Homer Collyer are born into bourgeois New York comfort, their home a mansion on upper Fifth Avenue, their future rosy. But before he is out of his teens Homer begins to lose his sight, Langley returns from the war with his lungs seared by gas, and when both of their parents die, they seem perilously ill-equipped to deal with the new era.

As romantic Homer and eccentric Langley construct a life on the fringes of society, they hold fast to their principle of self-reliance. But they are mocked and spied on, and despite wanting nothing more than to shut out the world, the epic events of the century flow through their housebound lives as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves.

Long-listed for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2011 (UK)

“ 'Exquisite writing, an extraordinary story and a charmingly wry take on life and all its inconvenience - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Beguiling . . . Doctorow shows how each decade leaves a distinct thumbprint on the siblings, to the extent that one starts to regard them as an unwitting index of changing times in America at large - GUARDIAN 'The interweaving of the epic and the domestic makes for a fascinating read - DAILY MAIL 'Doctorow's work grants inner life to historical personages and revives the past in fine grained detail . . . like Doctorow's best written earlier books, Homer and Langley prompts one to question the purpose of formal punctuation, familiar spelling and - TLS”

'Exquisite writing, an extraordinary story and a charmingly wry take on life and all its inconvenience - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

'Beguiling . . . Doctorow shows how each decade leaves a distinct thumbprint on the siblings, to the extent that one starts to regard them as an unwitting index of changing times in America at large - GUARDIAN

'The interweaving of the epic and the domestic makes for a fascinating read - DAILY MAIL

'Doctorow's work grants inner life to historical personages and revives the past in fine grained detail . . . like Doctorow's best written earlier books, Homer and Langley prompts one to question the purpose of formal punctuation, familiar spelling and - TLS

E.L. Doctorow is one of America's most accomplished and acclaimed living writers. Winner of (among others) the National Book Award, he is the author of ten novels that have explored the drama of American life from the late 19th century to the 21st.

Brilliant brothers Langley and Homer Collyer are born into bourgeois New York comfort, their home a mansion on upper Fifth Avenue, their future rosy. But before he is out of his teens Homer begins to lose his sight, Langley returns from the war with his lungs seared by gas, and when both of their parents die, they seem perilously ill-equipped to deal with the new era.As romantic Homer and eccentric Langley construct a life on the fringes of society, they hold fast to their principle of self-reliance. But they are mocked and spied on, and despite wanting nothing more than to shut out the world, the epic events of the century flow through their housebound lives as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves.

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