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Historical Fiction · HopefulA bellboy's rise in late nineteenth-century New York
Martin Dressler
1996294 pagesModerate readSteady pace
★ Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 1997
A cigar-shop assistant becomes a bellboy and starts to dream big in 1890s New York
In late nineteenth-century New York, Martin Dressler works as an assistant in his immigrant father's cigar shop. He then takes a job as a bellboy at the Vanderlyn hotel. Young, optimistic and ambitious, he is a classic American dreamer, and the book follows the rise of his ambitions.
More about this book
Who
Martin Dressler, a young entrepreneur whose father owns a cigar shop. He takes a job at the Vanderlyn hotel as a bellboy.
World
New York City in the late nineteenth century.
What makes it different
The subtitle is The Tale of an American Dreamer. It won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the 1996 National Book Award.
Feel
A quiet, old-fashioned tale of ambition.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Martin DresslerWikipedia