Benjamin Weaver is an outsider in eighteenth-century London: a Jew among Christians; a ruffian among aristocrats; a retired pugilist who, hired by London’s gentry, travels through the criminal underworld in pursuit of debtors and thieves. In A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER, Weaver must investigate a crime of the most personal sort, involving the mysterious death of his estranged father, a notorious stockdealer. To find the answers, Weaver contends with a garrulous prostitute who knows too much about his past, estranged relatives who remind him of his alienation from the Jewish faith, and a group of powerful men in the world of finance who have disguised their business dealings with an intricate web of deception and violence. Relying on brains and brawn, Weaver uncovers the beginnings of a strange new economic order based on stock speculation - a way of life that poses great risk for investors, but real danger for Weaver and his family.
- 'A tale of eighteenth century finance, murder and religion that is a remarkable debut and a thoroughly satisfying novel’ Arthur Golden, author of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
- ‘A tremendously smart, assured and entertaining novel
- an intricate mystery, a colourful rogues’ gallery and, improbably, a history lesson on the birth of the stock market’ NEWSWEEK
- 'An evocation of English history that you can happily get lost in...' NEW YORK TIMES
Paperback:
£7.99
Published 03/05/2001
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