The Man Who Could Not Lose
1911
A young couple marries on nothing but love and nerve. When Champ Carter discovers he can predict winning racehorses in his dreams, he becomes the most dangerous man in America: a gambler who always wins. But luck, as they'll learn, is a fickle mistress. Richard Harding Davis spins a giddy, breathless romance about newlyweds who leap before they look, then watch as fortune transforms their precarious lives. Dolly's mother warned against the match, and for a time it seems she'll be proven right. Then Champ's impossible gift arrives, and suddenly the couple is swimming in the glittering, dangerous world of New York horse racing. But when the ultimate race arrives, one that could stake everything they've built, the couple faces an unbearable question: can their marriage survive the ultimate test of guaranteed winning, or will easy fortune prove the hardest trial of all? Davis, the era's master of romantic melodrama, writes with sharp wit and knows exactly when to pull his punch. The book captures a vanished America where horse racing was the sport of kings and quick fortunes could be made and lost in an afternoon. It's perfect for readers who want a romantic page-turner with a twist of the fantastic, the kind of story that reminds you why you love fiction.
