Elegy in Blue
A Novel
Will be published approx. on 28. May 2026
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-4197-8608-2 (ISBN)
Description
Mark Helprin, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Oceans and the Stars, Winter's Tale, and A Soldier of the Great War, returns with an unforgettable tale of love, loss, and remembrance set in Brooklyn.
Told in an exceptional literary voice, mixing comedy and tragedy, Elegy in Blue is a hymn to New York, memory, loyalty, and love.
High in a subsidized studio apartment, the unnamed 82-year-old narrator of Elegy in Blue looks out across the rooftops of Brooklyn all the way to the sea.
His distinguished career on Wall Street is in ruins, his mansion in Brooklyn Heights has been burned to the ground, and most of all, his father, his son, and his wife-the stunningly beautiful and equally kind Clare-have been taken from him, one by one, over the decades, by war and an act of violence.
Now his "allegiance is to his ghosts." He's almost lost to memory, reflection, and a purposeful letting go of life. But when violence threatens to destroy another family, he takes drastic action in hope of restoring a portion of justice to the world.
Can he fashion his life into an elegy, one that heals a broken heart and relieves the sting of death?
Told in an exceptional literary voice, mixing comedy and tragedy, Elegy in Blue is a hymn to New York, memory, loyalty, and love.
High in a subsidized studio apartment, the unnamed 82-year-old narrator of Elegy in Blue looks out across the rooftops of Brooklyn all the way to the sea.
His distinguished career on Wall Street is in ruins, his mansion in Brooklyn Heights has been burned to the ground, and most of all, his father, his son, and his wife-the stunningly beautiful and equally kind Clare-have been taken from him, one by one, over the decades, by war and an act of violence.
Now his "allegiance is to his ghosts." He's almost lost to memory, reflection, and a purposeful letting go of life. But when violence threatens to destroy another family, he takes drastic action in hope of restoring a portion of justice to the world.
Can he fashion his life into an elegy, one that heals a broken heart and relieves the sting of death?
Reviews / Votes
"Helprin (The Oceans and the Stars) delivers this saga with canny plotting and style without wasting a word . . . While deep and introspective, this novel's probing of ethics and morality is never ponderous . . . Helprin's language is poetic and lyrical. Expect to see this on many best-of-2026 lists." * LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review * "The novel blends grit, romanticism, and impish humor . . . [Helprin's] devoted readers will find in it what they love about his fiction. For readers new to his work, the novel is an accessible introduction to the author's prose style and thematic interests, including the ennobling effects of romantic love and beauty." * WALL STREET JOURNAL * "A wistful, captivating love letter to Brooklyn; a lament for loved ones lost and a life forever changed." * KIRKUS REVIEWS * "Helprin's elegiac, deceptively witty novel . . . brilliantly gives the reader an external view to echo the interior landscape of a man stripped of illusion. This is an elegy for the dead, yet contained within this sorrow remains a fierce insistence that love, once lived, cannot be entirely extinguished." * BOOKLIST * "A beautiful novel." * SHEPHERD EXPRESS * "Mark Helprin, a philosopher and a poet, has given us an elegy of one man's life and a literary summons to rise to new levels of freedom and virtue. We should all take heed; lives are at stake." * LAW & LIBERTY * "You should read Mark Helprin's Elegy in Blue because it is witty, wise, and funny." * CIVITAS OUTLOOK *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Abrams
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
417 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4197-8608-2 (9781419786082)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Mark Helprin is the internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Paris in the Present Tense, Winter's Tale, In Sunlight and in Shadow, A Soldier of the Great War, Freddy and Fredericka, The Pacific, Swan Lake, Ellis Island, Memoir from Antproof Case, and numerous other works.