An age-old family curse fuels this National Book Critics Circle Award winner: "Elkin's imagination should be declared a national landmark" (Paul Auster). Since the time of the First Crusade, every generation of the Mills family has been consigned by fate to an unfulfilling, servile existence. And each successive Mills has had a son, George, to perpetuate the family plight through history. Whether a stable hand in feudal Europe or a prisoner in an Ottoman harem, each George Mills falls prey to his hereditary misfortune--until the modern George Mills threatens to reverse this fate once and for all.   Written with penetrating insight and wit, George Mills is an engrossing story of one man's salvation, and an unforgettable defense of free will in even the most overwhelming of circumstances.   This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author's estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.