On Night's Shore: A Novel

By Randall Silvis

Book Overview

It is the summer of 1840--for some in New York City a season of prosperity; for others, another season of desperation. Randall Silvis's "On Night's Shore opens with one of the most spellbinding scenes in contemporary writing. A girl tosses her baby from a warehouse window, then follows the infant into the Hudson River far below. The only witness to this desperate act is a ten-year-old street arab named Augie Dubbins, a boy who survives by the motto, "In calamity, opportunity." Augie does what he can to make a few pennies from the girl's tragedy. In doing so he encounters another of the desperate ones, a struggling young journalist named Edgar Allan Poe, a poet and critic and newspaper hack whose penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time has not only stymied his advancement as a writer but has earned him more than a few enemies. Poe, too, hopes to use the girl's misfortune to fatten his threadbare purse. His efforts to do so lead to the discovery of the body of yet another young woman, and the ensuing investigation of her murder soon entraps Poe in a mire of murder, greed, lust and power that stretches from the Five Points slums to the gleaming heights of Fifth Avenue. But On Night's Shore is much more than just a page-turner. Here we see deep into the troubled psyche of Edgar Allan Poe, the father of all detective stories. We see the darkness that drove him, the demons that plagued him. We also see the tenderness with which he treated h

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312262019
• ISBN13: 9780312262013
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.3" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

Dazzling prose

Besides the story telling and the insights into the character of Edgar Allen Poe, this book is written in the most dazzling prose! It's a tale told by an old man remembering his boyhood and his friendship with the remarkable but flawed Poe, whose struggles with editors and his own dark and moody psyche as he roams the streets of 1840's NYC, brilliantly described, in search of the murderer of a young girl, are thrilling to read of. I'm ordering more Silvis novels. I'm hooked.

A must-read for mystery buffs and Poe fans alike

The father of the modern detective story takes center stage in a riveting tale of murder, corruption and redemption. A street urchin discovers a dead girl, and chance leads his path across that of struggling journalist Edgar Allan Poe. Ever the alert profiteer, Augie Dubbins reveals his grisly find to Poe in exchange for a coin. The two then find themselves navigating a labyrinth of contradictory evidence and repelling attempts both on their lives and on their integrity in order to expose the murder's identity and motive. In so doing, man and boy find in each other a commonality that transcends their divergent backgrounds. Poe is the nearest thing to a father Augie has ever known; his home and family life are paradise to a child who has known only squalor and violence. Augie serves a purpose for Poe as well, becoming a no-nonsense, street-smart caretaker when Poe's dark instabilities cast their enervating shadow on him. Silvis recreates 1840s New York with an unstinting and often brutal clarity. His elegant, evocative prose is suggestive of Poe's own style and his narrative integrates elements from Poe's more popular works. The characters, real and fictional alike, are masterpieces of insight into the human experience. Nowhere is this insight more evident than in the author's rendering of Edgar Allan Poe, a brilliant, compassionate and fatally complex man whose devotion to his work was exceeded only by his love for his family.

Poe mystery evokes New York

In the summer of 1840 a New York street urchin witnesses a young woman throw her baby, then herself, into the murky Hudson River. Making a few pennies recounting the tragedy, ten-year-old Augie Dubbins meets an impoverished young journalist, Edgar Allan Poe.Together they discover the body of another young woman caught under the docks and embark on an investigation which takes them from the squalor of the Five Points slums to the glitter of Fifth Avenue, where Augie learns that ruthless depravity thrives at all levels of society.Narrated by Augie many years later "On Night's Shore" seamlessly incorporates elements of Poe's later tales into the narrative - "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Black Cat" - without overreaching. Poe is a gloomy, driven man whose genius is beset by poverty, nagging self-doubt and bouts of drunkenness. Augie, brutalized, clever, and resourceful ("in calamity, opportunity"), attaches himself to Poe as a father figure, enchanted by his family circle of consumptive, gentle wife and strong, generous mother-in-law.Despite occasional backsliding into, respectively, despair and opportunism, Poe and Augie bring out the best in one another and together they delve into Mary Rogers' working class life, shattering several official versions of the murder on their winding path into the bastions of city power. Atmospheric and suspenseful, Silvis' ("An Occasional Hell," "Excelsior") character-driven story brings the city to life in all its cruelty and grandeur and the writing - mannered, gritty and eloquent - evokes the voice and sensibility of the time.

New York Times review

By MARILYN STASIOThe vibrant panorama of New York City in 1840 that Randall Silvis spreads before our eyes in ON NIGHT'S SHORE (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Minotaur...) bears little resemblance to the flat, static scenes that unroll like so much wallpaper in most historical mysteries. Even more arresting is his sleuth, a wild-eyed newspaper journalist who signs himself E. A. Poe and makes his meager living peddling sensational crime stories like the one that captures his imagination here -- the murder of a shopgirl, Mary Rogers, whose bloated body is discovered in the Hudson River by Augie Dubbins, a 10-year-old ragamuffin who narrates the tale from the vantage of an old man. The lively investigation conducted by this oddly matched pair of sleuths is interesting in its own right, providing rich background on the seminal short story (''The Mystery of Marie Rogt'') that helped establish Poe as the father of ratiocinative detective fiction. But let's give Silvis his own creative due. Despite his mannered tendency to ape what Augie calls Poe's ''funny way with words,'' Silvis delivers pungent impressions of the living city, exploring its mansions, slums, morgue, prisons, poorhouses and opium dens for all the ambient sounds and smells that define the character of a busy, brawling, unwashed metropolis.

Exciting historical mystery

In 1840 New York, writer Edgar Allen Poe, needing something that pays the bills, accepts a job as a reporter for The Mirror. Obtaining the job is easy for Mr. Poe, but finding a story proves a bit more difficult until he meets ten-year-old waif Augie Dubbins, who seems to make a better than him by conning immigrants and stealing food. The ragamuffin child escorts Poe to the Hudson River docks where they find the corpse of Mary Rogers, a young shopgirl.Poe reports the case in the Mirror. Due to the story grabbing the attention of the entire city, his editor sends him to conduct a follow-up article. The official investigation seems totally inadequate to Poe. Along with Master Dubbins, Poe begins his own inquiries not yet realizing the danger he places himself and his young sidekick in.ON NIGHT'S SHORE is an exciting historical mystery that is very entertaining as it brings alive a bygone era in New York City. The historical references provide a feel for the period even as the author states he took poetic license with specific dates for improved plotting purposes. The sleuthing by Poe and partner is made to fit what is known of the writer so that the audience can picture him wandering the city in pursuit of a story. An elderly Augie looking back in time tells the story. This technique works because the narrator transposes his matured thought process and feelings onto himself as a child, which in turn gives the tale its heart. That feeling is more genuine because long-term memories are often obfuscated by time. Randall Silvis provides sub-genre fans with a delightful look at Edgar Allen Poe, amateur sleuth.Harriet Klausner