Forever by Pete Hamill
In 1740, a young man named Cormac O'Connor leaves his beloved home of Ireland for the shores of New York, where he hopes to avenge his parents' tragic deaths. Through a courageous act of kindness, he is granted the gift of immortality — as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan. As the decades pass, Cormac witnesses the evolution of the city from a small port town to a crowded, bustling metropolis.
Forever is an epic work of fiction and a fascinating insight into the dark secrets and shining glories of New York City.
Quote:
"Once he understood that he would live for many years, Cormac had worked hard at placing his nostalgias in a mental jail. This was an act of will and a means of self-defense. For a long time, New York (which is to say, the world) was as people thought it always would be, and then suddenly it changed, and the present was shoved forever into the past. There was never a sense of cataclysmic collapse, no shared admission that Rome was now finished. New Yorkers took for granted that nothing would ever remain the same, and nostalgia was their permanent protest."
Author:
Pete Hamill is an American novelist, essayist, and journalist. He worked as a columnist and editor for several decades for The New York Daily News and the New York Post. His books include Forever, A Drinking Life, Tabloid City, and Tokyo Sketches.
Published: 2002
Length: 597 pages
Set in: Ireland and New York City, New York, United States