The Lincoln Highway

Billy, who is bright, serious and obsessed with a book of heroes by a certain Professor Abacus Abernathe, has found postcards from their mother, who left years ago, and he wants to follow the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco to find her. Duchess, a charming, talkative schemer with his own ideas about justice, and Woolly, a gentle, fragile boy from a wealthy family, take Emmett's beloved car and head east, and Emmett and Billy must follow them by freight train to New York.

Towles tells the story through several characters, each with a distinct voice, including Sally, the brothers' sharp-tongued, kind-hearted neighbor, and Ulysses, a veteran who has ridden the rails for years since losing his family. Along the way the journey takes in freight trains, a visit to the author of Billy's favorite book, a family house in the Adirondacks and many detours. The tone is mostly light and humorous, but there are darker moments, and the ending is surprising and bittersweet. The book is long but moves quickly, full of charm and storytelling pleasure.

Charming, generous and absorbing. About 592 pages in the Penguin paperback.