On Golden Hill

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

I loved this book and ever since I finished it I’ve been thinking about when I will start reading it again. except you can see from the state of it I really need a new copy. I do have a Kindle and I could download it but I am a little old fashioned and like holding a book in my hand.

Set in New York in 1746, a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island.

One rainy evening in November, a handsome young stranger fresh off the boat pitches up at a counting-house door in Golden Hill Street: this is Mr. Smith, amiable, charming, yet strangely determined to keep suspicion simmering. For in his pocket, he has what seems to be an order for a thousand pounds, a huge amount, and he won't explain why, or where he comes from, or what he can be planning to do in the colonies that requires so much money.

Rich in language and historical perception, yet compulsively readable, Golden Hill has a colourful cast of characters and  a plot that twists. A puzzle at its heart that doesn't let go until the very end.

It took two holidays to finish but I loved it. It's a story of against all the odds courage, woven with matters of the heart, loyalty, friendship, greed and lots of creative thinking to get you out of a crisis. Lots of colourful characters to dig your teeth into none more so than Mr. Smith who I imagined to be much older than his 20 or 21 years back in 1746.

The author had me believing he had infact been there at the time as he narrates the tale with delicate detail to smell, taste, describing the environment as lucidly as the fabulous, fantastic, characters, too numerous to mention and at times difficult to keep track of who is who.

I don't like romance novels, or crime particularly and whilst this book has a little of both it is also witty, gutsy and very real. 

The downside for me  it is a tough text and quite academic. I remember reading Umberto Eco years ago and struggling a bit with the complex language and this was a bit like that, not so difficult but I did have to look up a few words.