‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’ is the story of John T. Unger, a young Southerner who goes to Montana for summer vacation with a wealthy college classmate. But the classmate’s family proves to be much more than simply wealthy: They own a mountain made entirely of one solid diamond. And they’ve gone to dreadful lengths to conceal their secret … meaning John could be in danger.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His first novel’s success made him famous and he married the woman he loved, his muse Zelda, but he later descended into drinking and his wife had a mental breakdown. Following the unsuccessful Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at age 44, his final novel only half completed.

In ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,’ his preoccupation with moneyed society takes on a fantastical form, in a playful yet sinister fairy-tale about a family so wealthy they are entirely above the law.