The Coffee Trader
Books | Fiction / Historical / General
3.9
(88)
David Liss
Amsterdam, 1659: On the world’s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city’s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city’s most envied merchants, Miguel has suddenly lost everything. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living in his younger brother’s canal-flooded basement, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation.Miguel enters into a partnership with a seductive Dutchwoman who offers him one last chance at success—a daring plot to corner the market of an astonishing new commodity called “coffee.” To succeed, Miguel must risk everything he values and face a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to see him ruined. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam’s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.
Historical Fiction
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More Details:
Author
David Liss
Pages
432
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published Date
2004-02-03
ISBN
0375760903 9780375760907
Community ReviewsSee all
"<strong>It's just business...</strong><br/><br/><br/>At times this book’s plot was so convoluted I forgot who was blackmailing who, who had double crossed who and who was really supposed to be the goodie or the baddie. The book made me think a lot about business and ethics.<br/><br/>The book takes place in seventeenth century Holland not long after the Dutch had gotten out from under their Spanish overlords. This was the time of huge changes in commerce. The Dutch developed new methods of trade including the joint stock company, commodities markets, futures, stocks, and many other forms of speculative trading. <br/><br/>The book makes me admire the Dutch even more, and think about what it means to say “it’s not personal, it’s just business”."
David Farrar
