The Vagabonds [Hardcover]

Nicholas Delbanco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2004

- The author's most recent novel, What Remains (Warner, 2000, 0-446-52416-6), received rave reviews and was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. His previous novels for Warner include Old Scores (1997) and In the Name of Mercy (1995). - Nicholas Delbanco is the Robert Frost Collegiate Professor of English Literature and Language at the University of Michigan. He is the award-winning author of 20 fiction and nonfiction books and has taught at Columbia and Iowa Universities, as well as at Bennington, Skidmore, Trinity, and Williams Colleges. - Delbanco is the co-founder, with the late John Gardner, of the Bennington Writing Workshops, and currently administers the prestigious Hopwood Awards at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"[M]oney changes things," Delbanco's saga allows, as it slips across generations to examine the bonds of inheritance, fiscal and otherwise, linking three siblings. When the scattered Saperstones—coddled Claire, drifting David and down-on-her-luck Joanna—return to their childhood home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., upon their mother's death, they discover they've been left a sizable sum of money. The inheritance began with a batch of General Electric stock, bequeathed by a cadre of adventure-smitten, self-styled "vagabonds": no less towering figures than Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford. After a cad in Firestone's employ impregnates a young girl in 1916, the three give the shares to provide for her illegitimate progeny. Over two generations, the shares and their intangible presence increase; Alice, the Saperstones' mother, cognizant of her own demons, leaves the trust untouched so that it might fulfill her children's lives in ways she could not. Each child ponders how to channel the windfall into something meaningful: courage, security, a new life. As their futures reconfigure, they draw together in their new history, especially when tragedy undermines Claire's charmed existence. While the vagabonds relished the country's open roads and boundless opportunity—a colorful bit of history animated here—generations later, the Saperstones yearn for a more rooted certainty. Delbanco (What Remains) creates a lyrical narrative showing a palpably American faith in reinvention as he weaves nostalgia-tinged memories into a grittier reality.
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From Booklist

The nature of families, their secrets and their strengths, is explored in sumptuous detail and with uncommon insight in Delbanco's intricate, multigenerational tale spanning nearly a century in the life of one ordinary New England family, and dramatizing its momentous encounter with three extraordinary pioneers of American invention. Self-proclaimed as "the vagabonds," Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and Henry Ford were known to travel together in annual treks throughout the American countryside. It was on one such trip to upstate New York that a member of their retinue seduced Elizabeth Dancey. The ensuing pregnancy, when brought to the titans' attention, resulted in the establishment of a stock trust fund that would, three generations later, have resounding impact upon the lives of Elizabeth's grandchildren. Just as Elizabeth's story influences that of her daughter, Alice, so does Alice's life find uncanny parallels in that of her children. Through such an inventive device does Delbanco, whose previous novels include What Remains (2000), spin a mesmerizing family saga that is simultaneously old-fashioned and contemporary, vibrant and refined. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (November 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446530026
• ISBN-13: 978-0446530026
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,107,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine historical subplot inside a contemporary family drama, October 31, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Vagabonds (Hardcover)

In 2003, the three Saperstone siblings (Joanne, David, and Claire) return to their Saratoga Springs, New York hometown to bury their mom Alice. To their shock Alice left her children with a hefty inheritance actually from their deceased grandmother who gained her wealth in 1916 from the vacationing trio of "Vagabonds" Henry Ford, Harry Firestone, and Thomas Edison. Thus they have inherited valuable General Electric stock.

Forty something single mother Joanne sees the money has a savior. Claire, who needs the inheritance the least as she is married to a successful businessman though that relationship seems ready to collapse, resents that mom wants David to live in the ancestral home; she always felt mom favored her little boy over her girls. David has his own problems like being unable to commit to a relationship. As each wonder what happened in 1916 (read the book if you wonder too) they squabble over the estate, but will it bring contentment or a curse as the previous two generations dealt with untimely death and unhappiness.

Well written, Nicholas Delbanco provides a historical subplot inside a contemporary family drama however, the tale contains too many major threads to keep track of what is happening to the prime trio and others. Still the three siblings come across as genuine especially when they argue and grieve at the same time. The 1916 action furbishes insight into famous Americans bringing that era alive through their personas. Fans of relationship tales will appreciate this fine story, but would have enjoyed a deeper look at how the trio got to where they each seem unable to deeply relate to anyone.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good book, November 13, 2006

By 

Robert T. Comey (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Vagabonds (Paperback)

I am surprised that this novel has elicited only one other review. It is very well written, and the author moves skillfully back and forth between 1916 and 2003, with numerous stops in between. This technique could be very confusing, but it is done well here. My only criticisms are that I found the ending weak and that a very significant character from 1916 reappears at the end but is not developed.