The Edgar Award–winning novel A Conspiracy of Paper was one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2000. In his richly suspenseful second novel, author David Liss once again travels back in time to a crucial moment in cultural and financial history. His destination: Amsterdam, 1659—a mysterious world of trade populated by schemers and rogues, where deception rules the day.On the world’s first … world’s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city’s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city’s most envied merchants, Miguel has lost everything in a sudden shift in the sugar markets. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living on the charity of his petty younger brother, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation.
Miguel enters into a partnership with a seduc-tive Dutchwoman who offers him one last chance at success—a daring plot to corner the market of an astonishing new commodity called “coffee.” To succeed, Miguel must risk everything he values and test the limits of his commercial guile, facing not only the chaos of the markets and the greed of his competitors, but also a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to see him ruined. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam’s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.
With humor, imagination, and mystery, David Liss depicts a world of subterfuge, danger, and repressed longing, where religious and cultural traditions clash with the demands of a new and exciting way of doing business. Readers of historical suspense and lovers of coffee (even decaf) will be up all night with this beguiling novel.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Very long history review. Skipped some, read some. Interesting over all. Long, so you get your money’s worth. Unusual vocabulary, good,because Kndle looks up words. Vocabulary is a big plus. Coffee is always interesting. Have read a novel that was REALLY about a COFFEES.
I enjoyed the cultural background but was a bit lost with all the financial twists and terms.
I read about one-fourth of this book and finally abandoned it. I rarely don’t finish a book, but this just didn’t hold my interest.
A little slow to start, but then intruging.
couldn’t finish it. captures the time period and the feel of the Dutch capitalism and trading culture but becomes clunky with characters that don’t feel real and are poorly developed. that would be okay except the story became all about the characters and lost the historical development I was hoping for
A wonderful historic fiction. One of David Liss’s best!
Great insight into some of my dutch relatives beliefs and habits.
I’ve always enjoyed David Liss’s historical fiction, which usually includes some kind of who-done-it along with rich historical details.
Historical info was so interesting. I could smell the smells and almost taste the food. This author really does his research. We had to read a historical mystery for our book club and I chose The Coffee Tradee and I am glad I did.
I really enjoyed this book. It introduced me to the strange world of finance in a most enjoyable way.