The Lightning Keeper

by Starling Lawrence

Book Overview

This is the story of an unlikely love at the dawn of the electric age in America. In 1914, Toma Pekocevic is a penniless immigrant in New York recently escaped from the bloody politics of the Balkans that has claimed most of his family. He is also a gifted inventor who designs a revolutionary water turbine while working with Harriet Bigelow, scion of a proud Connecticut iron-making dynasty now fallen on hard times. Their attraction is immediate...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060825251
• ISBN13: 9780060825256
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A nice mix of love story and history

Set against the backdrop of the First World War, this is a wonderful story about the struggle for technological progress and of ill-fated love. Our lovers are frustrated by their perceptions of their roles in society, and struggle to resolve their feelings for each other without betraying their responsibilities. Alongside this bittersweet story, we are also treated to the struggle to create the modern electric power grid. The technical details are clearly described, and the author does a good job of describing the obstacles and the visions of the engineers that brought electricity to America. He also does a good job in showing the role of patents in this process. This is a wonderful book that paints a vivid portrait of the early part of the previous century and the people who lived then. (This review is based on a pre-publication Advanced Reading Edition.)