The Lincoln Highway (novel)

Emmett's perspective is told in the third person. Emmett was raised in Morgen, Nebraska, by his father after his mother left. At 15, he became a carpenter's assistant, purposely avoiding the hazardous weather-dependent nature of farming. After a local troublemaker, Jimmy Snyder, taunts him about his father, Emmett punches him and Jimmy later dies after hitting his head in the fall. Emmett admits his guilt at a court hearing, thereby avoiding a trial. Sent to Salina, a Kansas youth facility, for 18 months for manslaughter, Emmett is released early on compassionate grounds when his father passes away. Emmett owns a blue 1948 Studebaker Land Cruiser — his absolute pride and joy.

Emmett's eight-year-old younger brother. Upon his father's death, he discovers a metal box containing postcards from their estranged mother. He wants to go to San Francisco, where he believes their mother may be living as it was the last place she sent a postcard from. He wants to go via the Lincoln Highway — a highway built in 1912 that runs across America from New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Billy remembers his mother's love of fireworks and is convinced she will be at the Fourth of July fireworks in Lincoln Park. Billy collects silver dollar coins in an old blue tobacco tin with the portrait of George Washington on it. He carries around a book with him, “Abacus Abernathe's Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers and Other Intrepid Travellers” that he has read many times.

“When it came to rules, Billy wasn't simply an abider. He was a stickler.” (Emmett)

Duchess's perspective is told in a first-person narrative. Duchess escapes from Salina with fellow inmate Woolly by slipping into the trunk of the warden's car, which is transporting Emmett home. He has a fascination with masters of deception such as an escape artist named Kazantikis, and is fond of embellishment and exaggeration. His dream is to open up his own restaurant. Duchess's father, Harrison Hewett, who was a travelling actor and unscrupulous conman, inspired Duchess's love of performance. When Duchess was eight, Harrison abandoned him at St. Nicholas' home for boys. Later, he is framed for theft, leading him to be sent to Salina. After listening to a talk about finances, Duchess adopts the idea of people being in debt to each other through their misdeeds and that "the only way to get a good night's sleep is to balance the accounts.” He uses this to justify his acts of revenge on those he feels have done wrong.

"I love surprises, I love it when life pulls a rabbit out of a hat." (Duchess)

"If you want to understand a man's motivations, all you have to do is ask him 'what would you do with fifty thousand dollars?’" (Duchess)

"There is a goodness in him, a goodness that has been there from the beginning, but which has never had the chance to fully flourish." (Sister Agnes)

"He's a loyal friend in his own crazy way...But he is also like one of those guys who are born with no peripheral vision....And that can lead to all kinds of trouble." (Townhouse)

"When it comes to vaudeville, it's all about the setup." (Duchess)

Woolly's perspective is told in a third-person narrative. Raised in a wealthy and well-connected family on the Upper East Side, New York, Woolly has had to leave boarding school three times — St. Paul's, St. Mark's and St. Georges’. At St. Marks, he got so stressed having to use a thesaurus he set fire to it on the football field and the fire spread to the goal posts. At St. Georges, he came across a fire engine and returned it to the station, not realizing the firefighters were in the grocery store. This led to them not being able to attend an emergency fire at a stable and, consequently, Woolly was sent to Salina. His grandfather left him some money in a trust fund, but Woolly is declared temporarily unfit to receive it. Woolly's great grandfather puts $150,000 in cash in a wall safe in the family 'camp', a house in upstate New York, which Duchess and Woolly are hoping to find. Woolly is often slow to understand, acts impulsively without logic, has an addiction to drugs, and has simple fascinations, making him vulnerable to exploitation.

"There's something about all that good fortune that can become too much." (Duchess)

"When father accepted his commission in the navy, it was Woolly who ended up at sea." (Sarah).

"It seems to me that so many of our lives end up being hampered by a virtue...If you take a trait that by all appearances is a merit....and you give it to some poor soul in abundance, it will almost certainly prove an obstacle to their happiness." (Sarah)

One of Woolly's sisters, who understands Woolly's nature and shows him compassion. She is married to Dennis.

"Sarah was the only one in Woolly's family who said she was sorry and meant it."

A man in his forties who served in World War II in the 92nd Infantry Division under the Fifth Army in the Italian Campaign. His wife Macie does not forgive him for enlisting and moves away, taking their newborn son with her. Ulysses takes to riding freight trains across the country, never settling anywhere, and that is how he comes to save Billy from the predatory Pastor John.

"Everything of value in this life must be earned...one should also earn the right to hope." (Ulysses)

An inmate at Salina who was persuaded by Duchess to sneak out one night to see a movie. Duchess unwittingly hitched a ride home with an off-duty cop, which led to Townhouse getting caught and publicly beaten by Warden Ackerly.

A ranch owner and long-standing neighbor of the Watsons, he takes Billy into his care after Charlie Watson dies and Emmett is sent to Salina.

Mr. Ransom's daughter, who lost her mother at the age of 12. She prides herself on caring for others, especially the Watson brothers, and likes to take time to do things properly.

"Kindness begins where necessity ends." (Sally)

The author of Billy's beloved book. Abacus (formerly known as Sam) developed a childhood interest in shipwrecks, which led to an interest in explorers. He is inspired by his meeting with Billy to meet Ulysses and go and have an adventure of his own.

"How easily we forget — we in the business of storytelling — that life was the point all along." (Abacus)

Emmett and Billy's father, an unsuccessful farmer who dies of cancer. He leaves behind debts which cause the bank to repossess the family home, leaving his sons homeless. He came to Nebraska from Boston in 1933. He leaves Emmett a note of apology, a torn page from Ralph Waldo Emerson's “Essays”, and about $3,000 hidden in the trunk of Emmett's car.

Killed by a fall following a punch from Emmett.

"In his seventeen years, he was the engineer of a lifetime of shit piles." (Mr Ransom)

"He liked running people down whether he knew them or not."

A warden at Salina who is inclined to beating the young men with his stick.

Heller McAlpin in a review for NPR called it "elegantly constructed and endlessly readable".^[1] Alex Preston praised "Towles's near-magical gift for storytelling [and] ability to construct a cast of characters at once flawed, lovable and fascinating."^[2] Chris Bachelder commented on the novel being "remarkably brisk, remarkably buoyant" and possessing an "episodic, exuberant narrative haywire found in myth or Homeric epic".^[3]

It was named a "Notable Book" by The New York Times^[4] and a "Book of the Year" by Time^[5] and NPR^[6] as well as Barack Obama^[7] and Oprah Daily.^[8] The Washington Post named it one of the 50 most notable fiction books of 2021.^[9] Bill Gates recommended it as a summer read in 2022.^[10]