Golden Hill

"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."