Golden Hill
by Francis Spufford
Buy on Amazon"New York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan island, 1746. One rainy evening in November, a handsome young stranger fresh off the boat arrives at a countinghouse door on Golden Hill Street: this is Mr. Smith, amiable, charming, yet strangely determined to keep suspicion shimmering. For in his pocket, he has what seems to be an order for a thousand pounds, a huge sum, and he won't explain why, or where he comes from, or what he is planning to do in the colonies that requires so much money. Should the New York merchants trust him? Should they risk their credit and refuse to pay? Should they befriend him, seduce him, arrest him; maybe even kill him?…
Recommended by
"Golden Hill is very quietly witty, with none of Heller’s knockabout humour, but it’s impossible not to read it and smile knowingly at Spufford’s description of human nature at work. It’s a very civilised novel, set in New York in the 1740s, in which a man named Smith arrives like a stone thrown in a pond to upset the merchants’ lives. There are some terrific set pieces—a duel, a trial, a terrible betrayal —and more than one startling surprise. That is a very good point. It is a restrained, quite civilised novel, and Spufford seems more interested in giving an account than striving for effect. Perhaps that might make it feel a little bloodless, or too tightly controlled, but in fact it is very touching, as well as being witty and knowing."
The Funniest Historical Novels · fivebooks.com