Brewster's Millions

Montgomery Brewster, an amiable and not-very-rich young New Yorker, inherits a million dollars from his grandfather. Then comes the catch. An estranged uncle has left him seven million more — but only if, one year from now, he can stand before the lawyers absolutely penniless, having spent or disposed of the entire grandfather's million with “nothing to show for it.” No assets, no property, not a dollar saved.

The conditions are fiendishly designed. Brewster must get fair value for what he spends, proving himself a sound man of business even as he beggars himself; he may not simply give it to charity or lose it at cards; and — cruelest of all — he is sworn to absolute secrecy. He may tell no one, not his closest friends, not the woman he loves, why he is suddenly squandering a fortune in the most reckless manner New York has ever seen.

What follows is one of the great comic machines in American fiction. The harder Brewster tries to lose money, the more stubbornly it comes back to him: his wild stock speculations soar, his roulette losses turn to winnings, his lavish parties and chartered yachts only burnish his name and draw fresh profit his way. Worst of all, his devoted friends — convinced he is ruining himself — conspire behind his back to save him, and every loyal rescue is, for Brewster, a fresh disaster. The clock ticks, the deadline nears, and the million simply will not die.

First published in 1902 under the pseudonym “Richard Greaves,” Brewster's Millions became one of the most popular American novels of its day and the source of a Broadway hit and a long line of films. Beneath the farce runs a sly satire on money, value, and the American romance with extravagance — and a love story about who prizes the man rather than the fortune. More than a century on, it remains as quick, as clever, and as funny as the day it appeared.