Forever

Summary

From the bestselling author of Snow in August and ADrinking Life comes this magical, epic tale of an extraordinary manwho arrives in New York City in 1740 and remains forever.

From the shores of Ireland, Cormac O’Connor sets out on a fatefuljourney to avenge the deaths of his parents and honor the code of hisancestors. His quest brings him to the settlement of New York, seething withtensions between English and Irish, whites and blacks, British and “Americans,” where he is swept up in a tide of conspiracy andviolence. In return for aiding an African shaman who was brought to America inchains, Cormac is given an otherworldly gift: he will live forever as long ashe never leaves the island of Manhattan.

Cormac comes to know all the buried secrets of Manhattan, the way ithas been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing ofenormous human energies, and above all, by hope.

Through it all, Cormac must fight a force of evil that returnsrelentlessly in the scions of a single family whose path first crossed his inIreland. As he searches out these blood enemies, he must watch everyone hetouches slip away. And so he seeks the one who can change his fate, themysterious dark lady who alone can free him from the blessing and the curse ofhis long life.

Drawing on Pete Hamill’s bone-deep knowledge of New York City, Forever ishis long-awaited masterpiece, a Shakespearean evocation of the mysteries oftime and death, sex and love, character and place. It is both an unforgettabledrama and a timeless triumph of storytelling.