The Cold Millions
Published on 10. February 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-241-98552-6 (ISBN)
Description
'A beautiful, lyric hymn to the power of social unrest in American history...funny and harrowing, sweet and violent, innocent and experienced; it walks a dozen tightropes' Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See
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1909. Spokane, Washington.
The Dolan brothers are living by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his dashing older brother Gig dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment.
But then Rye finds himself drawn to suffragette Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and her passion sweeps him into the world of protest and dirty business. As a storm starts brewing, questions of love, sacrifice, brotherhood and betrayal emerge, threatening to overwhelm them all. . .
The Cold Millions is at once an intimate story and a stunning, kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, dreams and reality. Set against the panoramic backdrop of an early 20th century America, Jess Walter offers a sensational tale that resonates powerfully with our own time.
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'A brilliantly multifaceted panorama of early 20th-century America...Walter is a writer whose work deserves a wide readership' Sunday Times
'A work of irresistible characters, harrowing adventures and rip-roaring fun . . . One of the most captivating novels of the year' Washington Post
_____________________________________________
1909. Spokane, Washington.
The Dolan brothers are living by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his dashing older brother Gig dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment.
But then Rye finds himself drawn to suffragette Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and her passion sweeps him into the world of protest and dirty business. As a storm starts brewing, questions of love, sacrifice, brotherhood and betrayal emerge, threatening to overwhelm them all. . .
The Cold Millions is at once an intimate story and a stunning, kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, dreams and reality. Set against the panoramic backdrop of an early 20th century America, Jess Walter offers a sensational tale that resonates powerfully with our own time.
___________________________________________
'A brilliantly multifaceted panorama of early 20th-century America...Walter is a writer whose work deserves a wide readership' Sunday Times
'A work of irresistible characters, harrowing adventures and rip-roaring fun . . . One of the most captivating novels of the year' Washington Post
Reviews / Votes
A riotous, propulsive adventure story, packed with captivating characters * Daily Mail * A brilliantly multifaceted panorama of early 20th-century America . . . Walter is a writer whose work deserves a wide readership * Sunday Times * A beautiful, lyric hymn to the power of social unrest in American history. It's funny and harrowing, sweet and violent, innocent and experienced * Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See * A work of irresistible characters, harrowing adventures and rip-roaring fun ... bursting with a dazzling range of outrageous characters. One of the most captivating novels of the year * Washington Post * Reminiscent of the stylistic tricks of F Scott Fitzgerald...With its rebellion against inequality and debates about capitalism, there are clear echoes from 1909 to the US today. Incitement to riot, dreadfully topical since the assault on the Capitol last month, also gets a look in. But The Cold Millions offers more: a study of individuals living, willingly or unwillingly, through tumult. * FT * Colourful and punchy * The Times * Walter is a class act...the fierce struggle for free speech and workers' rights is genuinely stirring. -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday * A timely and poetic read that vividly depicts the American melting pot at its most unequal and volatile . . . a compelling portrait of America at the dawn of the 20th Century * Sunday Express * Expansive, beguiling . . . A thrilling yarn that simultaneously underscores the cost of progress and celebrates the American spirit * O Magazine * It's a tremendous work, a vivid, propulsive, historical novel with a politically explosive backdrop that reverberates through our own * USA Today *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
248 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-98552-6 (9780241985526)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including The Financial Lives of the Poets and The Cold Millions. Beautiful Ruins was a New York Times bestseller, and We Live in Water was one of Barack Obama's books of 2019. Jess Walter lives in Spokane, Washington with his family.