His destination: Amsterdam, 1659-a mysterious world of trade populated by schemers and rogues, where deception rules the day.On the world's first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. In his richly suspenseful second novel, author David Liss once again travels back in time to a crucial moment in cultural and financial history. Nine-city author tour rights sold in Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain and the U.K.The Edgar Award-winning novel A Conspiracy of Paper was one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2000. 11)įorecast: The current unstable financial markets give Liss's tale added resonance. There's a central question, too: When men manipulate money for a living, are they then inevitably tempted to manipulate truth and morality? Agent, Darhansoff and Verrill.

Each player in this complex thriller has a hidden agenda, and the twists and turns accelerate as motives gradually become clear. Soon Miguel is caught in a web of intricate deals, while simultaneously fending off a madman desperate for money, and an enemy who uses the Ma'amad But she may not be as altruistic as she seems. Miguel is delighted when a sexy Dutch widow enlists him as partner in a secret scheme to make a killing on 'coffee fruit,' an exotic bean little known to Europeans in 1659. Which is all the more reason not to acknowledge his longing for his brother's wife, with whom he now lives, having lost all his money in the sugar trade. While he wants to retain his standing in the Jewish community, he finds it increasingly difficult to abide by the draconian dictates of the Ma'amad, the ruling council. He honed his skills in deception during years of hiding his Jewish identity in Portugal, so he finds it easy to engage in the evasions and bluffs necessary for a trader on Amsterdam's stock exchange. Miguel Lienzo escaped the Inquisition in Portugal and lives by his wits trading commodities. Liss makes up the difference in scale with ease, establishing suspense early on.

This one, in contrast, is set in the confined world of 17th-century Amsterdam's immigrant Jewish community. Liss's first novel, A Conspiracy of Paper, was sketched on the wide canvas of 18th-century London's multilayered society.

The coffee trader by david liss