Lenoir is that rare creation in historical fiction, a brilliant, satirical picaresque that is also a narrative tour de force. An African man is stolen from his homeland and sold into bond-servitude in 17th-century Amsterdam, a world he finds baffling, disgusting, and haunted by strange pale spirits. He is renamed Lenoir by his master Dom Twee, an artist's agent, conniver and procurer. His exotic appearance makes him popular as an artist's model for Rembrandt and Rubens; his great intelligence and dignity make him a fascinating commentator on the art, sex and profiteering that are the chief preoccupations of the city. Part picaresque, part deeply serious exploration of white European society seen through the eyes of a slave, Lenoir beautifully achieves the goal of the greatest historical fiction: to make the exotic familiar, and the familiar utterly new.