The Runaway Skyscraper

Arthur Chamberlain, a young engineer in a New York skyscraper, and Estelle Woodward, his quietly anxious stenographer, begin in the ordinary rhythm of office life—until the city itself starts to behave impossibly. Darkness falls and rises too fast, the sun seems to run backward, watches spin wildly, and clocks shatter as Arthur realizes their building is not merely shaken but racing backward through time. With scientific calm and growing awe, he concludes they are trapped in a runaway skyscraper hurled into the Fourth Dimension. When the motion finally stops, Manhattan has become a prehistoric wilderness, with forests, wigwams, and signs of an ancient America stretching around the stranded tower. Arthur takes charge at once, guiding the frightened occupants through shock and into survival, while his understated bond with Estelle deepens under pressure. He organizes rationing, hunting, fishing, gardening, and guards, insisting that starvation is the greatest threat. As the building creaks, tilts, and suffers a terrifying collapse over the safe-deposit vault, Arthur and Estelle struggle to keep the group together. Blending scientific adventure, time-travel mystery, and disaster survival, the story follows their fight to restore order and find a way back home. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.