"One of the most captivating novels of the year." - Washington
Post
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A Library Reads Pick - An Indie Next
Pick
A Best Book of the Year: Bloomberg Boston Globe Chicago Public
Library Chicago Tribune Esquire Kirkus New York Public Library
New York Times Book Review (Historical Fiction) NPR's Fresh Air O
Magazine Washington Post Publishers Weekly Seattle Times USA
Today
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins
comes another "literary miracle" (NPR)--a propulsive, richly
entertaining novel about two brothers swept up in the turbulent class
warfare of the early twentieth century.
An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice, and betrayal set
against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America
that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a
kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich
and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams.
The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for
day work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for
a steady job and a home, his older brother, Gig, dreams of a better
world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent
treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer who performs with
a live cougar and introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous
creature: a mining magnate determined to keep his wealth and his hold on
Ursula.
Dubious of Gig's idealism, Rye finds himself drawn to a fearless
nineteen-year-old activist and feminist named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.
But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all, and Rye will
be forced to decide where he stands. Is it enough to win the occasional
battle, even if you cannot win the war?
Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and
socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force
from a "writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of
American authors" (Boston Globe).
