Name: Golden Hill
ISBN: 9781501163876

Francis Spufford

Originally published: Great Britain: Faber & Faber, 2016.

A Novel of Old New York

Golden Hill

Francine Corry

I can't say how much I loved reading Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. It was so nostalgic for me, written like many historical fiction books which I used to read. I really got a kick out of the characters and loved the budding romance between new arrival, Richard Smith and the shrewish Tabitha.

The book had a bit of a Perils of Pauline pace, Richard Smith is often unaware and unable to foresee his situation. He is often coy and for me the major problem, a little too coy, thereby putting off the reveal until the very end. While there were times it was gently foreshadowed, I wonder is it realistic. Could this have possibly happened at this time? 

I dunno, but loved reading it even if I think that not everyone would.

New York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island, 1746. One rainy evening, a charming and handsome young stranger fresh off the boat from England pitches up to a counting house on Golden Hill Street, with a suspicious yet compelling proposition -- he has an order for a thousand pounds in his pocket that he wishes to cash. But can he be trusted? This is New York in its infancy, 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 A Novel of Old New York