# Empire Falls

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-russo/empire-falls/9780099422273

![Empire Falls](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage/richard-russo/empire-falls_978-00-9942-227-3.jpg?v=2026-04-22%2006%3A31%3A32)

- Book: [Empire Falls](https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-russo/empire-falls) ([Empire Falls.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-russo/empire-falls.md))
- Authors: [Richard Russo](https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-russo)
- Publisher: Vintage
- ISBN: 978-00-9942-227-3
- Pages: 496
- Published: 2011-06-02
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

Empire Falls, Maine: once a thriving hub of industry, this small town nestles in a bend of the vast and winding Knox River, and has always been the empire of the wealthy Whiting family. Now the last Mrs Whiting presides like a black widow spider over its declining fortunes. She harbours a grudge against her employee Miles Groby, who runs the Whiting-owned Empire Grill, but hopes one day to own it himself. Miles, gentle and hopeless, has other problems: his wife has run off with his worst customer, he frets about his adored teenage daughter, and his drunken father sponges off everyone. As the novel builds to a shocking climax, Russo constantly surprises with characters who will disarm you, a plot with as many twists and falls as the Knox River itself, and an ending that will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.