Five and ten

John G. Rarick is a restless entrepreneur whose mind never sleeps. Haunted by countless minor irritations—an old calf, a borrowed poem, a looming bank loan—he transforms insomnia into an engine for building a sprawling chain of five‑and‑ten stores. In his lavish bedroom, beside his wife Jenny, he rehearses visions of ever‑more elaborate merchandising empires while grappling with the quiet anxieties that everyday life throws his way.

The novel unfolds in a vivid, early‑20th‑century setting, mixing the bustle of commerce with the intimate worries of family. Jenny, dreaming of a writing career she never pursues, watches her husband’s relentless ambition with both admiration and unease. As Rarick’s plans grow ever grander, the story gently probes the cost of perpetual striving and the strange comfort that a sleepless mind can find in whispered fantasies of success.