Back Bay

By William Martin (Mass Market, 1992)

Meet the Pratt clas. Driven men. Determined women. Through six turbulent generations, they would pursue a lost Paul Revere treasure. And turn a family secret into an obsession that could destroy them. Here is the novel that launched William Martin's astonishing literary career and became an instant bestseller. From the grit and romance of old Boston to exclusive -- and dangerous -- Back Bay today, this sweeping saga paints an unforgettable portrait of a powerful dynasty beset by the forces of history...and a heritage of greed, lust, murder and betrayal.

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- Format: Mass Market
- Price: $7.99 US/$10.99 CAN
- ISBN-13: 9780446363167
- On Sale Date: 07/01/1992
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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Formats Available: Mass Market, Trade Paperback, Electronic Book
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William Martin is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, an award-winning PBS documentary, and a cult classic horror movie, too. His first novel, Back Bay, introduced treasure hunting hero Peter Fallon, who has now appeared in five novels, and spent fourteen weeks on the Times list. SInce then Martin has been telling stories of the great and the anonymous in American history, from the Pilgrims to 9/11. His novels, including Cape Cod, Annapolis, City of Dreams, and The Lincoln Letter, have established him as "a storyteller whose smoothness equals his ambition" (Publisher's Weekly). He lives near Boston with his wife and has three grown children. In 2005, he was the recipient of the prestigious New England Book Award, given to "an author whose body of work stands as a significant contribution to the culture of the region."

Martin's first novel is a clever and entertainaing blend of history, family, saga, and mystery. Its focus is on a magnificent gold and silver tea set that, made by Paul Revere and presented to George Washington by the merchants of Boston, becomes a key factor in the destinies of a prosperous Boston family, the Pratts, for 250 years. The set is stolen from the White House in 1814 by Horace Pratt in revege for governmet trade restrictions, and buried in the mud of the Back Bay. Later that part of the bay is landfilled, and the set's whereabouts become a mystery, solvable only by someone who can decipher certain clues in a Pratt diary. Shuttling between past and present, the narative detailsthe attempts of generations of pPRatts, and others, to retrieve the treasure, and encompasses a while string of violent deeds, including suiccide and murder. Matters reach an exciting though tragic climax in the1970s when twogroups opf serachers find the sert almost simultaneously.