NEA Big Read Book Discussion: The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

Join us in person at Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum for a discussion of this year's NEA Big Read title The Cold Millions by Jess Walter. The discussion will be led and facilitated by Folio Librarian Lillian Dabney.

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…