Francis Spufford

My relationship with this book changed as I read it. From the first page it was clear I was going to become immersed in the reality of parochial Dutch- English New York, a cosy city of some 6000 souls where everone knows everyone. Here was 18th century America made real, even down to the choice of language. And yet, as I admired it, I found I wasn't truly engaged, and I wanted to finish the book. Which I did, a week ago. And now I find myself remembering it, reflecting on it, and deciding that yes, to get the best from it, I must read it again.

A certain Mr. Smith lands in New York fresh from England, and in need of exchanging an order for £1000. Such a phenomenal amount of money makes him the subject of much gossip, and an assured place in society. But all does not run smoothly. Pick pockets, a shrewish woman whom he nevertheless falls for, dissenters, bankers, churchgoers all rollick through the narrative. There are roof-top adventures, river trips, gaols, long mornings in coffee houses. Surprise tumbles in after surprise, though the biggest one of all is kept till last. I'm glad I read it. I repeat. I must read it again.… (mehr)

Is this a novel? I've never read a novel though with 60 pages of footnotes. Is this a history book? History books don't usually mix a cast of entirely fictional characters with known figures from history. Spufford himself describes it as a 'half-way house on the borders of fiction'.

It's clever. Each section of the book is prefaced by the relevant section of mid-20th century Russian economic and political history. Each is then succeeeded by a few chapters of, well, vignettes really, in which we meet factory workers, lovers, members of the scientific elite, managers.... With one exception, we never revisit these characters, nor are their stories complete tales. What we are given is a slice from their lives, one which, when read with the others, and with the accompanying history provides a rich and illuminating picture of Russia's planned economy and its effect on day-to-day life.

You'll learn about economics, and politics, but most of all, you'll learn about people, and how by being unpredictable, tired and human they, together with ideologies that were sometimes shortsighted or perverse prevented the realisation of the Great Soviet Dream.… (mehr)

It's a rainy evening in the fall of 1746 when Mr. Smith arrives in the bustling little city of New York. He's immediately a man of mystery: he arrives at a counting house on Golden Hill street with an order for a thousand pounds, an almost unimaginable fortune in the Colonies. Is he a fraudster? An eccentric, wealthy businessman? What is his business in New York, and why is he so hesitant to talk about it?

I can't quite remember how this book got on my radar (a conference speaker some years ago, perhaps?), but I'm glad I finally got to it. The ups and downs of Smith's trip to New York and the mystery of his business there kept me intrigued the whole way through, as well as the turbulent, spiky romance between him and Tabitha, daughter of the counting-house on Golden Hill. I did guess at one of the twists from a dropped clue, but was still generally surprised at how things turned out. The book does have some flaws -- for one thing, the narrator is revealed at the end, but that person would have had no way of knowing about certain conversations and events that are recorded. Smith is also amazingly forward-thinking and tolerant for his time. The audiobook narration is likewise good but flawed, with a couple of mispronounced words and a few awkward bits of phrasing where the last word of a sentence gets tagged on as an afterthought. Still, I'd recommend both the book and the audiobook to readers who enjoy historical fiction set in this era.… (mehr)