Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York
    Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York
    Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York
    Audiobook10 hours

    Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York

    Written by Francis Spufford

    Narrated by Sarah Borges

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    A Wall Street Journal Top Ten Fiction Book of 2017 * A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year * A Seattle Times Favorite Book of 2017 * An NPR Best Book of 2017 * A Kirkus Reviews Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year * A Library Journal Top Historical Fiction Book of the Year * Winner of the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize * Winner of the New York City Book Award

    “Gorgeously crafted…Spufford's sprawling recreation here is pitch perfect.” —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air

    “A fast-paced romp that keeps its eyes on the moral conundrums of America.” —The New Yorker

    “Delirious storytelling backfilled with this much intelligence is a rare and happy sight.” —The New York Times

    “Golden Hill possesses a fluency and immediacy, a feast of the senses…I love this book.” —The Washington Post

    The spectacular first novel from acclaimed nonfiction author Francis Spufford follows the adventures of a mysterious young man in mid-eighteenth century Manhattan, thirty years before the American Revolution.

    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?

    Rich in language and historical perception, yet compulsively readable, Golden Hill is “a remarkable achievement—remarkable, especially, in its intelligent re-creation of the early years of what was to become America’s greatest city” (The Wall Street Journal). Spufford paints an irresistible picture of a New York provokingly different from its later metropolitan self, but already entirely a place where a young man with a fast tongue can invent himself afresh, fall in love—and find a world of trouble. Golden Hill is “immensely pleasurable…Read it for Spufford’s brilliant storytelling, pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, and gift for re-creating a vanished time” (New York Newsday).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJul 4, 2017
    ISBN9781508250609
    Author

    Francis Spufford

    Francis Spufford began as the author of four highly praised books of nonfiction. His first book, I May Be Some Time, won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Nonfiction Book of 1996, the Banff Mountain Book Prize, and a Somerset Maugham Award. It was followed by The Child That Books Built, Backroom Boys, and most recently, Unapologetic. But with Red Plenty in 2012 he switched to the novel. Golden Hill won multiple literary prizes on both sides of the Atlantic; Light Perpetual was longlisted for the Booker Prize. In England he is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

    More audiobooks from Francis Spufford

    Related to Golden Hill

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Golden Hill

    4/5

    314 ratings30 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Mixed feelings about this rather unusual book.I greatly enjoyed the aspects which concentrated on colonial New York in the 18th century. The discussion of the various currencies, the layout and feel and feel of New York City so many centuries ago, the judicial system, etc., were very interesting.Unfortunately, I thought much of the interaction between the characters was contrived and a bit tedious. I was also surprised to learn that the author is male. In many ways, it seemed the sensibilities expressed will appeal more to a female audience.
    • 3/5
      Richard Smith arrives in New York from London in 1746 with a note of exchange for one thousand pounds. The local merchant writes to England to verify that the note is authentic. Smith will not reveal the nature of his venture, so he becomes a target for rumors. Is he wealthy? Is he a fraud? Is he a spy? While waiting for confirmation, Smith becomes a magnet for trouble.

      There’s something here for everyone: a bit of tragedy, comedy, romance, drama, and lots of escapades. Our hero finds himself involved in exploits involving robbery, dueling, trysts, mob violence, slaves, performance art, political intrigue, social conventions, and the law. The essence of early New York, at the time a city of seven thousand souls, is vividly described.

      It is written in the archaic English of the era. Dramatic tension is maintained by Smith’s secret reason for his journey, which the reader does not find out until late in the novel. Unfortunately, this device wears thin, and results in “information dumping.” It is not my personal preference for the way to pace a book. The mystery of Smith’s journey is delayed, and instead, there are many digressions, some of which are more compelling than others. I found it clever, but frustrating that the point of the book is weakened by its structure.
    • 5/5
      Set in New York in 1746, the author uses all five senses to immerse you in the time and place. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book, set in 1745 Colonial New York. It has lush period-appropriate language that sent me to the OED more than once; gave me insight on what life was like in that time, when a new generation of colonists owed little allegiance to the "mother country" of their parents; and had an intriguing mystery at its heart. Highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      This was an easy enough read, but it was lacking any oomph! I was left feeling "Why did anyone write this book?"There was very limited character development if there was any. The protagonist was not likable and there were few enough other people who could be described in that way with any honesty. The main character was a bit inconsistent and while he had a particular mission he did not seem to care about that much when things got tough for him. It would not encourage me to read anything else from this author.
    • 3/5
      Just of the latest boat from the UK in 1746, New York is a Mr Richard Smith. Gaining entry to a counting-house,  he presents the proprietor, Mr Lovell, with a demand for £1000. Staggered by the amount, he is not helping his cause by refusing to explain any details as to why he needs that amount of money and what the purpose of it will be for. Lovell initially doubts its legitimacy but a little more research seems to prove that it is a genuine order, helped by Smith claiming that proof will be following on the next ship due, so they decide not to honour it until that point.

      His arrival adds fuel to the fire that there are spying and other nefarious things happening and Smith quickly becomes the centre of attention for all the citizens of the city. This notoriety means that he begins to get into lots of scrapes and suffers the misfortune of being robbed, almost killed, be challenged to a duel and be arrested for fraud. As well as falling in love…

      There are several layers and subplots in this 18th-century story. Spufford seems to manage to keep each of the plates for these spinning well, making it quite readable and fairly fast-paced. Smith is an entertaining character, his boldness and naivety make for entertaining reading and he frequently sparks of the other main character, Tabitha Lovell. Liked the setting, New York feels fresh, edgy and slightly dangerous at this time. Very different to his non-fiction which I have read in the past and maybe a book for someone who wants to give historical fiction a go for the first time.
    • 3/5
      This was a reading group book and I listened to it as an audiobook as I didn't think I'd manage to read it. It worked OK as an audiobook - I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I enjoyed the introduction to New York in 18th century - a time period I know zero about. But I found the plot line and most of the characters pretty tedious. My reading group either hated it or loved it - I was one of the few on the average side.
    • 5/5
      t is hard to believe that this wonderfully picaresque romp through 18th century New York is Spufford's first novel. It manages to echo and gently parody many of the tropes of 18th century fiction, while mixing it with enough hindsight to make it appeal to a modern audience, and despite the richness of the language it soon becomes a genuine page-turner.The story follows an English adventurer who arrives from London in a New York which in 1746 is barely more than a large village, armed with a money order for a thousand pounds. He gets enmeshed in the various intrigues of a local population small enough for everyone to know everyone else's business, and flirts with disaster several times before the plot reaches a surprisingly clever and intricately plotted conclusion. Much of the history is fascinating, many of the place names appearing in their original Dutch spellings. The language is a wonderful hybrid, full of archaic usages but never difficult to follow, and the plot is mostly that of a traditional adventure story.A very enjoyable read - highly recommended
    • 4/5
      I took this with me to read on a recent trip to Denmark and pretty much polished it off during the journey there. It was a much easier read than I’d expected, a very easy read, in fact, so much so I kept on thinking throughout that Spufford had attempted to write something like Golding’s Rites of Passage but hadn’t quite managed to nail down eighteenth-century prose, resulting in a much more readable prose style. Not, I hasten to add, that I’m an expert on eighteenth-century prose, or indeed have read any books written during that century, like Gulliver’s Travels or Pamela. But Golding’s novel seems more, well, authentic than this one, although Spufford’s representation of life in 1746 New York is thoroughly convincing. A young man called Smith arrives in New-York (as it’s given throughout the novel) with a promissory note for £1000, effectively a banker’s draft, and an enormous sum in those days. He hands it over to a local merchant but is told it will take sixty days for the merchant to get together the money. So Smith has to hang around until then. He refuses to explain who he is, or what the money is for; which means most think he is a con artist and there will be no supporting credentials on the next ship. Which there isn’t. So he’s arrested. But then it turns up on the ship after that, so it seems he really does have £1000. Meanwhile, everyone has been speculating about what he is – he knows a lot about the theatre, so perhaps he’s an actor – and he’s fallen in with the governor’s private secretary, a gay man his own age, and started courting the merchant’s oldest and very prickly daughter. Spufford keeps the speculation on Smith’s identity and purpose going throughout the novel, which is an impressive achievement. But the real stand-out in the book is New-York of 1746, which feels like a living, breathing place, which, er, obviously it was. The plot is all that you would expect of a novel set then, all setbacks and set-pieces, hearts won, enemies made, lessons learned… The final revelation, when it comes, is a surprise but the foundation for it is plain to see in hindsight. I don’t think Golden Hill will make my best of the year top five but it certainly deserves an honourable mention. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      1746 NYC pop 7,100 Richard Smith arrives with an order for 1000 pounds which he wants in cash.A fascinating look at that time, but the climax wasn't, really.
    • 5/5
      To all Gentlemen and Ladies within the reading of my words: may I Highly Commend you to this Suspenseful yet Humor-Filled Novel of Ancient Manahatta. There is within a Bill requiring Recompense, a Young Man tempted by an Older Actress, a Tragick Duel, a visit from Sinterklass, a riveting Trial, a Mystery Unraveled, and a Boldly Thrilling Rescue. Your Enjoyment, I vouch for.
    • 5/5
      "Golden Hill" was one of the best novels I have read. Spufford's writing is exquisite and erudite. The story is engaging and unpredictable. Spufford drew the characters and the mid-18C New York City world they occupied in a way that made them come to life. Highly recommended!
    • 4/5
      A wonderfully entertaining romp through 18th century New York, including the greatest incident of coitius interruptus I've ever read. An easy recommendation for anyone looking for some light reading.
    • 4/5
      GOLDEN HILL is first-class storytelling combined with intelligent research. Also it is Francis Spufford’s tribute to the novel’s earliest form. Not unlike the first novels, GOLDEN HILL is an action-packed picaresque breathlessly delivered by a first-person narrator. Hidden within his deftly presented homage, however, is Spufford’s more serious theme—the moral conundrum of America. Obviously America struggles with this problem even today. It is noteworthy that Spufford’s protagonist, an enigmatic Englishman, observes in New York many more slaves than existed in his native London. He further notices that “residents talk incessantly of ‘liberty and virtue, virtue and liberty,’ (while) black men and women are led in shackles through its streets.” Ironically, the form that liberty takes in pre-revolutionary America seems exclusively to be loyalty to the king. Today, Americans persist in similar delusions characterized by a belief that anyone can succeed if they just work hard enough—racism, mass murder, and corruption notwithstanding.Richard Smith comes to Manhattan in 1746 on a mission that remains a mystery until the very end. Spufford evokes a New York (population ~ 7,000) that is cleaner than London, but still with plenty of dark alleys where all kinds of nefarious things can occur. He capably renders a socioeconomic portrayal of a small town on the edge of a vast wilderness and also on the verge of becoming an important city. Interestingly, Carl Bridenbaugh selected 1742 as the stopping point for his landmark historical treatise on colonial city life, “Cities in the Wilderness - The First Century of Urban Life in America 1625-1742” because he felt that “in many respects it seems definitely to mark the end of an era in colonial town life.” Despite obvious expertise with this historical context, Spufford never fails to be entertaining and indeed quite humorous. For example, Smith becomes dismayed to learn that America’s future financial center functions with a hodgepodge of currencies, including notes issued by other colonies, native wampum, tickets on commodities like tobacco and rum, and even slaves. "It was all money, in a world without money."The narrator readily admits to the reader that he is not omniscient. In fact he humorously confesses to little knowledge about key plot elements like dueling and card games. After all, the novel has its limitations: “the four walls of our domain are: what is seen, what is said, what is done, and what became of it.” Thus the story focuses on the exploits of its protagonist, Richard Smith. Smith is a young Londoner who seems to be well read, well travelled, and current on the fashions of the time. But his past seems obscure, as is his mission in America. This is the central mystery of the novel and leads to much bizarre speculation among the inhabitants of Manhattan.The other characters in the novel are stereotypes whose main functions seem to be informing Smith about the finer points of life in their city. Tabitha Lovell is an abrasive, sharped-tongued shrew, who serves as the love interest. Septimus Oakeshott, the closeted gay secretary to Governor George Clinton, is the sidekick. Gregory Lovell is the wealthy merchant who moves the plot forward by delaying the payout to Richard, but introduces him to New York society. Zephyra and Achilles are slaves who elicit an unusual amount of empathy from Smith. Chief Justice James De Lancey and Governor Clinton are real historical figures and thus provide an historical context.The plot careens at breakneck speed following Smith’s arrival with a fortune (a £1,000 note) that he needs cashed. This leads to much mayhem including illicit bathhouse trysts, harrowing midnight escapes from Guy Fawkes Day revelers, a duel, a murder, a fumbling attempt at sex with a well endowed ageing actress, a stint in prison, and an amateur theater performance. The unrelenting action reminds one that the early novels had plots aimed at keeping the readers coming back for the next installment in the periodicals of the day. Much of it is engaging, but one gets the feeling that it may be a little over-the top for modern adult readers.
    • 4/5
      Humorous, a bit of mystery as one romps through 18th century New York City riding shotgun alongside hapless Richard Smith. He's the mystery, but everyone in town knows his business and everyone wants a piece of him. That is until things start to unravel.Wonderful prose with a touch of 18th century writing style. Half the book sets the scene for the real story. Stick with it; it's worth it in the end. Although, the ending of the story does feel a bit rushed. Synopsis: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 pitches up 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?Set thirty years before the American Revolution, author Francis Spufford captures an ancient iconography of New York not only in his depictions of the physical city and its diverse citizens, currencies, and costumes, but also in the clever and pungent language of his prose. Golden Hill is an update of eighteenth-century picaresque novels by the likes of Henry Fielding and entertains us with its savage wit, mystery, charismatic protagonist, and romantic storyline as it propels us toward a powerful revelation at the novel’s end. “Intoxicating” (The Financial Times) and “as good a historical novel as you could read” (The Times, London), Golden Hill shows us a city provokingly different from its later self; but subtly shadowed by the great icon to come, and already a place where a young man with a fast tongue can invent himself anew, fall in love—and find a world of trouble.
    • 5/5
      I don't often leave five-star reviews, and almost never for fiction, because I read like a writer as well as like a fan. I've got to be pleased on a sentence level: no culpably clunky syntax, misused words, or poor punctuation. Preferably, it should teach me a few words I don't know, without using them unnecessarily. All this, and it should keep me turning the page, keeping up past my bed time, presenting characters I want to learn more about. Reading should be stimulating and not a slog. Golden Hill is the first novel to knock it out of the park for me in years. It's a historical novel with the pacing and twists of Patrick O'Brian, the humor of Henry Fielding, and the sympathetic understanding of men's and women's characters of Jane Austen. Because this is beneath it all a very modern novel, I'd throw a mystery author in there as well, but I can't think of any that stand up to the comparison. My point would be that you don't have to like history or novels of manners to enjoy this book. You can read it at any level you like.The central mystery of the book—who is Mr. Smith, and what is he doing in New York with his enormous promissary note?—starts to resolve itself about halfway through, but there's another mystery to the book, that has to do with the way it's told. That one is left to the end to be revealed, and it adds a real poignancy to an already rich book. Oh, and there's a duel. And a lynch mob. And a kangaroo court. Coffee plays an important part, as do the machinations of some very venal power brokers whose names now adorn the streets of Manhattan. This book is enormous fun. I hope the author writes a half dozen more.
    • 4/5
      Amiable, young Mr Smith arrives in 1740's Manhattan, and the locals don't know whether to welcome him as a man of expectations or to dismiss him as a charlatan.Confidently written, evoking a freezing cold town, lit with candles in oranges and celebrations, and the cosy, smoky coffee house, plus a romance of sorts with a difficult woman.Spufford kept me guessing to the end what Mr Smith's purpose was, but I felt the sometimes oversumptious detail slowed me from getting there.
    • 5/5
      The language took a bit to get used to as this is written in the style of the times: early 1700's. New York isn't a city yet, but an outpost of England. Mr. Smith arrives carrying an order for a thousand pounds which is a huge sum and he won't reveal why or how he can make the claim. Suspicion is everywhere but it is agreed he will get the money when the next boat comes from England authorizing his claim. Meanwhile he meets the locals: the Lovells which their two daughters: Tabitha who is curt and argumentative and pleasant and sure to please Flora. Septimus Oakeshott who is secretary to the Governor and who becomes a friend/enemy of Mr. Smith. There is a fading actress, a quiet slave woman, and lots of other characters coming and going through Mr. Smith's life. For a time he is welcomed into the home of the Governor, then he finds himself in jail with a most disgusting cellmate. The story is humorous, quaint, true to the times and has a ending totally unexpected. It was a bit hard to get into the story due to the language, but once there, I was captivated. The author has a wry humor behind the story line.
    • 5/5
      For once, the publicity blurb for a book proves correct. "The best 18th century novel since the 18th century" and indeed, so it proves to be. Mr Smith arrives in 1746 New York, a small settlement of 7000 people, hugging the southern tip of Manhatten (or Manahatta as the characters in this novel would have it) loyal to the King and with heavy Dutch influence. Mr Smith holds a bill - think of it as the equivalent of a traveller's cheque - for one thousand pounds. He attempts to cash it. Imagine arriving at an American Express office in, say, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and attempting to cash a cheque for a million dollars. This is the equivalent of what Mr Smith is attempting to do. In a small community, with poor communications to London, Mr Smith is obliged to wait while his bona fides are established. And this waiting time provides plenty of opportunities for Mr Smith to get into scrapes and misadventures. His Rake's Progress include involvement in local politics (with unfortunate results), wooing the local scold (with unfortunate results), a trip to bonfire night (with....well you get the picture now), involvement in local amateur theatrics, dalliance with the local femme almost literally fatale, and various other escapades, before his true purpose is revealedMr Spufford, for it seems appropriate to call him such, has a lot of fun with 18th century style and language which he brings off without falling into the trap of parody or pastiche. He has also researched his 18th century New York well, and for example the rituals of St Nicholas night (for the Dutch) and Pope Night (for the Protestant English) are very convincingly brought to life. The intrigues and gossip of a small village are convincingly rendered.Its a very good book, Fielding for the modern ear, with a hint of the humour of Blackadder III thrown in. Minus half a star for a contrived ending and a couple of devices for tying up loose ends that don't quite work. But highly recommended
    • 1/5
      Yeuchh. Over hyped wadding.
    • 4/5
      It seemed a story set in New York City in 1746 rather than historical fiction. It was a rip roaring tale full of mystery but I found the characters a little unbelievable and the not altogether likable.
    • 4/5
      Patience is a virtue they say and I have to say after reading the first half of this novel, I was feeling very virtueous. The first part sets the scene of a New York, little more than twenty years before the revolution, and is extremely detailed. Many, many words but it does do the job, aquainting the reader thoroughly and meticulously with the political factions, the merchants, the nationalities and the extreme dislke of the French as well as the various religious affiliations, and almost everything else one would take the time to notice. Had this not been a buddy read with Esil and Angela, not sure I would have continued. But I did and by books end was glad I did.A man arrives, Smith is his name and presents a paper worth 1000 lbs. But who is he and what does he want? At various times he is thought to be a con, a criminal, an actor or magician. Then it clicked, after the fifth chapter, I didn't read anything about this book before starting except for a few reviews of my friends and I thought this was a straightforward historical. As I kept reading I realized my perception was wrong, this book reminded me of adventure stories of the past, Tom Jones, Moll Flanders and it changed my view of what I was reading. It's very well written, the details and descriptions place us firmly in time and place, and oh boy does Smith get in some picadelloes, one to the next. Enjoyed his interplay with Tabitha, the acerbic daughter of the merchant, it gave this novel an additional twist. Of course by books end all is made clear and it left me wondering f I would have made the same decision Tabitha did?The closest modern day book I can compare this too is [book:The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins|25897912], though this is wordier. So I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would which is a peon to the authors talent, though I still think the first half could have been a little less detailed and a little more actin filled. As I said it takes patience.ARC by publisher
    • 3/5
      It flattered to deceive. I was expecting more from the ratings it was receiving. It was slow and difficult to follow at times. Yes it is written in the 18th Century style but that doesn't make it any easier to understand. In fact less so. The big revelation at the end was a little unrealistic. Overall I was disappointed in this book.
    • 5/5
      Mr Smith, a young man from London, arrives in New York in the autumn of 1746 with a cash order for Lovell's counting house in the order of £1000. Naturally, there is great excitement and consternation at this turn of events, and a note is despatched back to England with the first ship to enquire whether this is a rightful demand or whether in fact Mr Smith is a rogue. While everyone awaits the reply and with sixty days' notice given for the bill to be honoured, Mr Smith spends the next couple of months in the city, and managing to get into one scrape after another ...This novel reads very much like an 18th-century novel written by Henry Fielding and other novelists of his age, with the author achieving to hit on the style (prose, punctuation, plot) in every detail. The prose especially is a delight: it sparkles, like a golden guinea glimpsed in candlelight, and fizzes like a glass of champagne of the finest vintage. The plot is subtle, with many questions unanswered at first, and as more of Mr Smith's background and his purpose for being in New York are revealed, it acquires an added poignancy. All the characters are lifelike, with real psychological depth, making the journey the reader embarks on to work through the many layers and currents running through the narrative to arrive at its meaning an enjoyable and thought-provoking one. The ending is unusual in that plot threads are not tied up neatly in a bow but are left to run on into obscurity, and there is a delicious surprise at the end, which nevertheless is entirely in the character of what has gone on before. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      My first year of college I took a survey course in English Lit. We read Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding, published in 1742. "Written in Imitation of the Manner of Cervantes," the book is picaresque and bawdy, a new literary form: the novel. I loved it and went on to read more Fielding, and Richardson, and Smollett.I requested a galley of Golden Hill because I had read Francis Spufford's marvelous book I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, which I savored for its beautiful writing and enjoyed for its subject matter. Golden Hill is Spufford's first foray into fiction.A Novel of Old New York: Golden Hill is a 'colonial counterpart to Joseph Andrews or David Simple,' the story of a young man learning the hard way about how things operate in the New World.Mr. Smith, our hero, undergoes a series of unfortunate incidents, including imprisonment, a duel, and a death sentence. His morals are corrupted by a lusty older woman, alienating him from his true love. He has come to New York on a secret mission, which makes him suspect. Could he be a French spy? At the end, he pulls off a venture that amazes everyone.Spufford fully captures the spirit of the early novels by Henry Fielding. The reader is addressed by the author. There are page-long sentences. Hilarious situations abound.Readers will marvel at how little they know about 18th c New York, then a city of 7,000 persons and still very Dutch. New Yorkers are loyal to the King of England, and Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated with riot and mayhem. Wealth is on paper, with limited paper and coin currency in circulation; each colony has its own specie, and international coin circulates. Smith participates in a staging of Addison's play Cato with its theme of liberty--George Washington's favorite play.The end of the novel has a surprise revelation that feels more modern in sensibility but is satisfying.Reading this novel was such fun. It may be time to revisit Fielding again.I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review
    • 4/5
      In the autumn of 1746, a young man arrives by ship in New York with a bill for a thousand pounds, which he immediately presents to a local merchant. Who is this mysterious Richard Smith? Is he an honest man or a fraud? He seems content to wait the required 60 days for payment of the bill. No one in the city knows what to make of him. The third person narrator is not omniscient, leaving the reader as much in the dark as New York society.Spufford brings mid-18th century New York to life in the pages of this novel, viewing it from the perspective of the newly arrived Smith as he explores the city and observes its customs. The novel's style is different and fresh. Smith's motive is hidden from the reader, so the destination of the plot is unpredictable. As much as I enjoyed the writing and style of the novel, there are some technical flaws. The story includes scenes and conversations that should have been unknown to the narrator. There also seems to be a chronological error in the text. On Christmas day, one of the characters is thinking about plans for the year to come. In 1746, Great Britain was still using the Julian calendar, and the new year didn't begin until March 25. These issues didn't lessen my enjoyment of the novel, and I highly recommend it for most readers of historical fiction.This review is based on an electronic advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
    • 5/5
      My first book of 2017 and what a corker! Historical fiction from the Tristram Shandy mould, but set in 18th C America, with a mystery at heart. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      New York, 1746. A young man steps off the transatlantic boat, keen to explore this strange new city. But the city is just as keen to explore his intentions, because political tensions are high between the governor and city assembly, and there are things about his behaviour which seem almost designed to arouse suspicion.For example, he arrives with a note drawn on a London bank for one thousand pounds, a mind-boggling sum of money, and refuses to tell anyone what he plans to do with it. Almost more suspiciously, he does not react angrily when the banking house he tries to draw the money from hint that they think he is a forger or a thief. Because surely, any honest man would want to defend his reputation? (The importance of reputation and surface stories is a key theme of the book).On the other hand, if he is not a cheat, he is a young man with a lot of cash to spend, and perhaps this is a good opportunity to introduce him to the daughter of the house, if she can be persuaded to sweeten the bad temper which has made her unmarriageable in the city.It will take sixty days for the money to be gathered together, and so our young hero has plenty of time to explore the city - to make friends and enemies, to baffle and irritate the city establishment, and to be raised high and brought low.It's clear that a lot of historical research has taken place into early New York - at that time, barely even a city with a population of 7000 people. But it is a terrific example of how to weave that research seamlessly into the story, from the first scene where Smith - having almost been thrown out of the counting-house as a rogue - produces four golden guineas, his spending-money until the rest comes through, and asks to change it into smaller currency. He is given handfuls of silver - Mexican, Danish, North African, Portuguese - and even more strangely to him, all manner of paper money issued by the different states.Spufford was apparently inspired by the eighteenth-century novel, which did not yet need to have a unity of tone. Smith is not a picaresque hero because he stays in the city for the whole book, but his rollicking adventures do give us plenty of variety.I loved this book. I liked the character of Smith - enthusiastic, probably too cocky for his own good but fundamentally decent. I found the story thrilling and funny and interesting and I really enjoyed the writing, which echoed Smith's own personality in its enthusiasm and its rambling delight in everything.(It may not suit a reader who prefers that the story get on with it - this description of a bonfire is a pretty good taster of the style: A faint contour formed in the air ahead of it, black on black; then, bigger than Smith could have imagined, a mountain where no mountain had been on the grass of the Common, all formed of wood and flammable rubbish, with flanks of discarded wardrobes and smashed cabinets, and ravines in which broken bedsteads gaped, an alp composed seemingly of every old thing, every burnable thing, every imperfect cumbrance of past time the city of New-York could scour from its attics, its middens, its cellars.)I'm pretty certain this will be one of my top ten books of the year. If it isn't, then this will be the best reading year I have had for some time!
    • 5/5
      This was one a genuinely serendipitous discovery. I hadn’t heard anything about this book, or previously encountered Francis Spufford’s writing. I just happened to be in Foyle’s at the right moment as one of the staff was setting out a pile of new books and this one caught my eye.It is simply blissful: a rollicking tale set in New York in 1746, where the community is starting to divide between those unswervingly loyal to King George II and dissenters calling for greater democratic rights colonies. Still a long way from the Boston Tea Party and the cries of ‘no taxation without representation’, but the House of Hanover had been shaken by the failure of the Jacobite rebellion earlier in the year.Into this potentially volatile mix comes Richard Smith, newly landed off the boat from England. No sooner has he alighted than he runs to a local broker and presents a bill for one thousand pounds drawn on an agency in London. The broker is concerned, and not without reason. One thousand pounds was a huge sum at that time, and one which threatened the broker’s trading capital. Smith does little to allay those concerns, refusing to divulge either the source of, or his intentions for, the sum in question. Smith is left to his own devices, waiting for the bill to clear, though his hopes of keeping a low profile are thwarted and he finds himself caught up in a series of adventures and mishaps. Spufford has obviously done considerable research into this period, and he paints a jaunty picture of eighteenth century New York. Its population in 1746 has been estimated at around 7,000, miniscule in comparison to the 700,000 people then living in London. Smith certainly experiences culture shock at the rather parochial attitudes he has to deal with.Spufford has scored a huge success, creating a novel set in the eighteenth century that reads very like a novel from that period, though without the sententious moralising that seemed to be the bane of that age. (Come on, own up, how many people genuinely read through all those dreary chapters at the beginning of each new section of ‘Tom Jones’?). It seemed to emulate the best bits of Tristam Shandy, and throw in a sliver of Breaking Bad (but without the rage, squalor and despair). The novel races along, and the reader is swept up in the flow. This was one of those books where I found that dreadful quandary: I was very eager to finish the book to find out how the various plot lines were resolved, yet I also felt that I didn’t want the book to end.
    • 4/5
      Mr Smith arrives in New York in 1746 and immediately creates an air of mystery and suspicion around himself. He has an order from a London merchant for a small fortune, to be paid by a merchant in New York. He will not say where he has come from from, what he is doing in New York, who his benefactors are (if any) and what he plans to do with the money once it is paid out after 60 days. He finds friends, enemies, the wonders of the New World (at least in New York and its environs) and, most surprisingly to him, love of a kind.We follow Mr Smith through these two months of waiting for his money to be paid and we see his rise and fall in social standing as misfortunes and tragedy dog him. The final revelation of his purpose and intent in New York is both shocking and moving.Francis Spufford’s first novel is excellent. His grip on the historical context is strong - both in terms of the physical world of New York and the way society works and in terms of the attitudes and viewpoints of the citizenry. His language reflects the style of the mid-18th century English world, but is never less than clear.