Шинель
By Николай Васильевич Гоголь
Cover: The Major Makes a Proposal (Inspecting a Bride in a Merchant's House) by Pavel Fedotov (1815-1852) · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Akaky Akakievich, a poor copying clerk, saves for years to have a new overcoat made, and it transforms him for a single evening before thieves take it. Gogol's tale of the little man crushed by the great city ends with a ghost who goes looking for coats.
Summary written with Claude Sonnet 5.5.