Rating: 5/5
Review:
Brilliant
Like almost everyone else, I think this is brilliant. It's gripping, superbly written and quite
remarkably evocative of a time and a place.
The time and place are November 1765, New
York. Into
this small city of 7000 people arrives Richard Smith from England;
charming, attractive and mysterious, he is there on an errand or mission which
he reveals to no-one, including the reader.
His adventures and misadventures over the next couple of months are
involving and exciting, and give us a wonderful portrait of the character of New
York at that time.
Spufford paints very believable human characters, too, and has plainly
immersed himself in the language and practices of the time, because the whole
thing is utterly convincing and involving.
The language is quite brilliantly evovative – and the source of the
narrative voice, revealed right at the end, is completely believable.
The story is good and quite gripping, but the real strength
of this book is the completely involving sense of New York at that time, and
the brooding, growing sense of menace and of being untrusted, alone and a very,
very long way from home. I thought it
the whole thing was a fantastic read, and I can recommend Golden Hill very
warmly indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment