The Sound of Thunder — Taylor Caldwell

From the New York Times - "bestselling author of Captains and the Kings: A self-made man sacrifices everything for his family in turn-of-the-century New York.

The son of a socialist German shopkeeper, Edward Enger has one dream: to turn his father's modest delicatessen into an empire. With an astute head for business and talent for making money, he achieves success beyond his wildest imagination. Yet something is keeping him from enjoying his extraordinary good fortune.

Fourteen-year-old Edward believed he would love ten-year-old Margaret Proster all the days of his life . . . until she moved away. Now, she has returned and is planning to marry another man, someone very close to Edward. His need to succeed at all costs drives him to take on this latest challenge, along with more mortgages, more debt, and speculative investments on Manhattan's burgeoning Wall Street. A man does not become powerful without making enemies, and as his family life begins to unravel, a day of reckoning is nearing. Soon Edward will have to confront a painful event from his boyhood -- a secret buried deep inside that he has never told another living soul.

A man in the right place at the right time, Edward's meteoric ascent coincides with the rise of America's middle class as the nation transforms from an agricultural and industrial force to a financial world leader. But his success comes at a great cost in this towering novel of love and sacrifice by one of our most gifted storytellers.