Salt for the Ledger
In the autumn of 1793, when disease made cities hesitate and commerce pretended it could not, a clerk of the Customs House in Philadelphia discovers that numbers can be as lethal as fevers. A single missing crate of salt—cheap, necessary, unromantic—pulls him from ink and routine into the damp corridors of docks, taverns, and quarantine lines. As rumors thicken and bodies vanish from alleys, he learns what the republic is willing to overlook to keep ships moving, and what a m…
Free AI-generated tale · Historical · EN
