The Cold Millions

by Jess Walter

“It’s a reprint of Gottsberger, from 1886, translated from the French by Clara Bell. Don’t get me wrong, Clara Bell is a real talent, her Dante impeccable, but an English translation of a French translation of a Russian novel? Isn’t that more like reading a rumor than a book?”

I wondered if the whole world wasn’t collapsing. The news was all famine and influenza, murder and war, every day some fresh horror.