Fevre Dream: A Novel

When struggling riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a wealthy aristocrat, he suspects somethings amiss. But when he meets the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York doesnt care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marshs dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he wont earn back his investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marshs concernno matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove. Marsh meant to turn down Yorks offer. It was too full of secrets that spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that could make history crushed his resolvecoupled with the terrible force of Yorks mesmerizing gaze. Not until the maiden voyage of his new sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare...and mankinds most impossible dream. Here is the spellbinding tale of a vampires quest to unite his race with humanity, of a garrulous rivermans dream of immortality, and of the undying legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river.