TOWLES: (Reading) For a few seconds, Woolly gave the radio his full attention. It's a section in which Woolly is trying to distract them by listening to a radio - the car radio - which turns out to be a kind of time capsule of America.

In part, it reminded me of Kerouac and Nabokov both writing about moving across America. SIMON: I wonder if I can get you to read a section which I loved.

So Duchess and Woolly have hatched a plan to head back East to reclaim this money, which was left to Woolly when his grandfather died. But meanwhile, Woolly is from the upper-class - New York City family. The 8 year old is convinced that this gives a map for the two brothers to now go and find their mother after all these years. And it spans from Times Square in New York City all the way to San Francisco. And those postcards were from eight different stops along the Lincoln Highway, the first highway to cross America. But when the father dies, young Billy discovers that their mother had sent eight postcards to the two boys. And around the time that Billy was born, their mother really decided that she'd basically - had to move on. Woolly and Duchess think they can find a buried treasure. And yeah, and help us understand the kind of tug of war that ensues between - Billy and Emmett want to see their mother in San Francisco. SIMON: These are Woolly and Duchess that - we should explain. And so when the warden drives away, they present themselves, and his plans to take his brother and head west are subverted by the very different plans that his friends have hatched for him. Unbeknownst to him, two friends from the juvenile work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. And he has to basically start his life fresh. His father has passed away while he was doing time and - to find that the farm is being foreclosed upon. The notion of the story is - right from the beginning for me was sort of an image of an honorable young man returning to a family farm driven by the warden after he's served time for really what was an accident. But then there's a man from the bank to welcome him home, isn't there? His father's died, and he has to take care of his little brother, Billy. He's just released from a juvie work farm. SIMON: Let me ask you about Emmett Watson, at the center of your story. Thank you so much for being with us.ĪMOR TOWLES: Thank you for having me, Scott. The author of the bestselling and highly acclaimed 'A Gentleman In Moscow' has written a road story that diverges along two different roads in between a bright red Studebaker and a freight train, set in the early 1950s landscape of America's highways, railways and dreams.Īmor Towles joins us now. Kirkus Reviews calls Amor Towles' new novel, 'The Lincoln Highway,' a remarkable blend of sweetness and doom.

The lincoln highway amor towles