The Moth

By James M. Cain

A sweeping tale of love, loss, and the pursuit of beauty during the Great Depression.

From birth, Jack Dillon is a golden child. Blessed with blond locks, glittering eyes, and a perfect voice, he is the most popular child singer in Baltimore. But when puberty robs him of his voice and the stock market wipes out his family fortune, Jack is forced to rebuild.

Over the next fifteen years, Jack will see it all. From Maryland to California and back again, he will become a football star, a soldier, and a tramp. Through it all, he never loses his eye for beauty, or his hunger for a woman he has known since childhood. To find happiness in the face of the Depression, Jack will have to remember that no matter how the world has changed him, part of his soul remains as pure as the first note he sang.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784083564

James M. Cain

James M. Cain (1892–1977) was one of the most important authors in the history of crime fiction. Born in Maryland, he became a journalist after giving up on a childhood dream of singing opera. After two decades writing for newspapers in Baltimore, New York, and the army—and a brief stint as the managing editor of the New Yorker—Cain moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s. While writing for the movies, he turned to fiction, penning the novella The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). This tightly wound tale of passion, murder, and greed became one of the most controversial bestsellers of its day, and remains one of the foremost examples of American noir writing. It set the tone for Cain’s next few novels, including Serenade (1937), Mildred Pierce (1941), Double Indemnity (1943), and The Butterfly (1947). Several of his books became equally successful noir films, particularly the classic 1940s adaptations of Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity. Cain moved back to Maryland in 1948. Though he wrote prolifically until his death, Cain remains most famous for his early work.     

Reviews for The Moth

[agmlll · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cain's longest novel, The Moth is a wander across Depression era America. Jack Dillon goes from child singer to football star to hobo to oil man to war hero. If the book has a fault it's that Jack is too much of a superman. I thought this was one of Cain's better novels which has been unjustly neglected.

[bensdad00 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The broadest Cain story I've read yet. Covering over 35 years in the life of the protagonist, there are multiple-novels worth of settings and characters here, all soaked in period detail that raises dozens of questions in this amateur historians mind as well.