Five Hundred Dollars

A buggy overturns in Lakeville, and Bert Barton is blamed for frightening the horse he has just rushed to catch. The shabby stranger beside him is Jacob Marlowe, newly returned from California—and Bert’s long-lost uncle.

In a quiet New England village, Bert works in the shoe factory while his widowed mother struggles to keep their mortgaged cottage. Their wealthy relatives live in a fine house nearby, but family ties have brought little help. Now Jacob’s arrival sets the Marlowes calculating: might the old miner have come home rich? Bert sees the difference between honest effort and moneyed airs, but Jacob’s past—and the secret hinted at by the book’s title—may change what his family can hope for. Will Jacob find a welcome among his prosperous kin, or discover where his loyalty is truly needed?

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