| Chapter |
Summary |
| Part 1, Chapter 1 |
The novel opens in New Rochelle, a suburb outside New York City, in 1906, and introduces the audience to a wealthy white...
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| Part 1, Chapter 2 |
Houdini's visit interrupts Father and Mother's scheduled lovemaking, which leaves Father feeling frustrated. He is about...
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| Part 1, Chapter 3 |
Most of the immigrants coming to America are from Italy and Eastern Europe. They arrive in New York and are "somehow abs...
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| Part 1, Chapter 4 |
At a political party where he helped design the fireworks display, Mother's Younger Brother daydreams about Evelyn Nesbi...
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| Part 1, Chapter 5 |
For his new trick Houdini decides he would like to escape from the jail where Thaw is being held. The warden isn't pleas...
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| Part 1, Chapter 6 |
Freud arrives in New York with his "disciples" Jung and Ferenczi. During his tour of the city, Freud rarely speaks, stru...
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| Part 1, Chapter 7 |
After leaving the Tombs one afternoon, Evelyn realizes she's not being trailed by reporters. She asks her driver to simp...
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| Part 1, Chapter 8 |
Tateh, a socialist, invites Evelyn to join him at a meeting where famed anarchist Emma Goldman will be lecturing. Evelyn...
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| Part 1, Chapter 9 |
Back in New Rochelle, Mother is annoyed because Younger Brother has left without notice. Trying to figure out his motiva...
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| Part 1, Chapter 10 |
Father is working hard aboard the Roosevelt with Peary and his team. Peary lives rather extravagantly aboard the ship—he...
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| Part 1, Chapter 11 |
Evelyn begins her testimony in her husband's court case. She testifies beautifully in the widely reported trial, propell...
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| Part 1, Chapter 12 |
At the same time, Tateh and The Little Girl are traveling by train across the United States. Tateh has no idea where the...
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| Part 1, Chapter 13 |
All across the United States, cities are building train tracks above and below ground, which fascinates Houdini. He hear...
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| Part 2, Chapter 14 |
Father returns home from his Arctic adventure to find much has changed in his year's absence. The most obvious, of cours...
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| Part 2, Chapter 15 |
The Little Boy fishes the silhouettes out of the trash and, finding one he admires of The Little Girl, hangs it on his w...
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| Part 2, Chapter 16 |
Tateh and The Little Girl have been living in Lawrence, Massachusetts, since autumn. Tateh works backbreaking hours at a...
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| Part 2, Chapter 17 |
Two conductors pull Tateh onto the train and attend to his injuries. He drifts in and out of consciousness until, "someh...
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| Part 2, Chapter 18 |
As Tateh's sale of the silhouette books shows, America is interested in mass production. "The value of the duplicable ev...
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| Part 2, Chapter 19 |
The man at the top of the American business hierarchy is J.P. Morgan, the American financier responsible for consolidati...
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| Part 2, Chapter 20 |
Desperate to connect with Henry Ford about his theories of reincarnation, Morgan invites the businessman for lunch. It p...
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| Part 2, Chapter 21 |
Back at the home in New Rochelle, a ragtime musician driving a brand new Model T car arrives looking for Sarah. Mother i...
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| Part 2, Chapter 22 |
Younger Brother resumes his trips to New York. He is still hung up on Evelyn yet he doesn't know where to find her. He m...
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| Part 2, Chapter 23 |
As he's leaving the New Rochelle house one afternoon, Coalhouse is stopped by a group of racist volunteer firefighters w...
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| Part 2, Chapter 24 |
A depressed Younger Brother searches for ways to keep his mind off of his broken heart. All the while, his desire to fin...
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| Part 2, Chapter 25 |
Since accepting Coalhouse's proposal, Sarah is a new woman, beaming with happiness. She is filled with joy and love for ...
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| Part 2, Chapter 26 |
Sarah has a lavish funeral in Harlem. Coalhouse spares no expense, using the money he had saved for the wedding to fund ...
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| Part 2, Chapter 27 |
Spring arrives. Houdini spends the new season mourning for his mother who had passed away some months earlier while Houd...
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| Part 2, Chapter 28 |
The explosion happened two miles away from Houdini's performance as Coalhouse and his men bombed the Emerald Isle Fire S...
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| Part 3, Chapter 29 |
This chapter gives background on Father's character. His mother died when he was young, and he had a distant relationshi...
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| Part 3, Chapter 30 |
Father splurges at the baseball game to get good seats, excited to make a good impression on his son. He is disappointed...
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| Part 3, Chapter 31 |
Father leaves the game worried and disappointed, yet he feels heartened when his son takes his hand in a rare act of aff...
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| Part 3, Chapter 32 |
Since his argument with Father, Younger Brother had become more and more distant from the family. After the first fireho...
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| Part 3, Chapter 33 |
The family passes a blissful summer at the Jersey Shore hotel. Their surroundings are peaceful and quiet, with "starched...
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| Part 3, Chapter 34 |
At the seaside hotel Tateh diligently works on a 15-chapter "photoplay." He is prone to bouts of depression and angst bu...
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| Part 3, Chapter 35 |
Coalhouse had actually hoped to take Morgan hostage in his home until his demands were met. Unfortunately, Coalhouse's y...
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| Part 3, Chapter 36 |
Morgan's curator is ready to give into any of Coalhouse's demands to ensure the safety of his boss's belongings, but Whi...
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| Part 3, Chapter 37 |
Booker T. Washington arrives outside Morgan's gallery and stands calmly in the street asking to be let in. He calls unti...
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| Part 3, Chapter 38 |
Father arrives at the makeshift headquarters where Whitman and his men work across the street from Morgan's gallery. He ...
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| Part 3, Chapter 39 |
Chief Conklin is dragged from his hiding place and brought to the gallery, where the damaged Model T and all the appropr...
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| Part 4, Chapter 40 |
The novel's final chapter brings closure to the novel's different story lines. After a few hours with Father, Coalhouse ...
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