Winter's Tale (Helprin)

Winter's Tale

First edition cover
Author	Mark Helprin
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Literary Fiction
Published	1983 Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich (US) Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK)
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	672 pp (hardback edition)
ISBN	(hardback edition)
OCLC	11499502

Winter's Tale is a 1983 novel by Mark Helprin. It takes place in a mythic New York City, markedly different from reality, and in an industrial Edwardian era near the turn of the 20th century. The novel was adapted into a feature film by Akiva Goldsman.

Peter Lake is the central character of Winter's Tale. A child of an immigrant couple denied admission at Ellis Island, Peter Lake is set adrift in New York Harbor in a miniature model ship called City of Justice. He is found in the reeds and adopted by the Baymen of the Bayonne Marsh, who send him off to Manhattan when he comes of age. There he first becomes a mechanic and then is forced to become a burglar in a gang called the Short Tails. He soon makes a mortal enemy of their leader, Pearly Soames, and is constantly on the run from the gang. Early one winter morning Peter is on the brink of being captured and killed by the gang when he is rescued by a mysterious white horse, who becomes his guardian.

While attempting to rob a house, Peter Lake meets and falls in love with Beverly Penn. Beverly is eccentric, free spirited, and enigmatic. This captivates Peter initially, but deeper nature is revealed with her impending fatal illness from consumption. Beverly never disappears from Peter's life, protecting him until the very end. His love for dying Beverly causes him to become obsessed with justice.

In yet another escape from Pearly's men, both Peter Lake and the white horse crash into a mysterious, recurring cloud wall, disappearing in it for decades. When Peter Lake emerges, he no longer remembers who he is and is visibly no longer of this world, seeing and hearing things that nobody else can see or hear. One night, in a dream or a vision, he is carried on a tour of all the graves of the world, observing and remembering all the dead. In the apocalyptic chaos of burning New York, he acquires astonishing powers.

Peter Lake refers to himself, earlier in his life, as "Grand Central Pete". In reality, there was a well-known confidence man in the late 19th century known by this name.

Athansor, the white horse, acts as a guardian angel of Peter Lake. Able to fly and possessing extraordinary endurance, the white horse appears to be an angelic being. Before the end, Peter Lake releases him to finally let him go to heaven, as Athansor had not been able to do before because of Peter Lake.