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Golden Hill Hardcover – June 2, 2016

by Francis Spufford (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 6,858 ratings
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New York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island, 1746.

One rainy evening in November, a handsome young stranger fresh off the boat pitches up at a counting-house door in Golden Hill Street: this is Mr. Smith, amiable, charming, yet strangely determined to keep suspicion simmering. For in his pocket, he has what seems to be an order for a thousand pounds, a huge amount, and he won't explain why, or where he comes from, or what he can be planning to do in the colonies that requires so much money.

Should the New York merchants trust him? Should they risk their credit and refuse to pay? Should they befriend him, seduce him, arrest him; maybe even kill him?

As fast as a heist movie, as stuffed with incident as a whole shelf of conventional fiction, Golden Hill is both a novel about the 18th century, and itself a book cranked back to the novel's 18th century beginnings, when anything could happen on the page, and usually did, and a hero was not a hero unless he ran the frequent risk of being hanged.

This is Fielding's Tom Jones recast on Broadway - when Broadway was a tree-lined avenue two hundred yards long, with a fort at one end flying the Union Jack and a common at the other, grazed by cows.

Rich in language and historical perception, yet compulsively readable, Golden Hill has a plot that twists every chapter, and a puzzle at its heart that won't let go till the last paragraph of the last page.

Set a generation before the American Revolution, it paints an irresistible picture of a New York provokingly different from its later self: but subtly shadowed by the great city to come, and already entirely a place where a young man with a fast tongue can invent himself afresh, fall in love - and find a world of trouble.
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  1. Print length
    344 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Faber & Faber
  4. Publication date
    June 2, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.3 x 9.45 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0571225195
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0571225194
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber; Main edition (June 2, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 344 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571225195
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571225194
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 6,858 ratings

About the author

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Francis Spufford

Francis Spufford

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Officially, I was a writer of non-fiction for the first half of my career, and I certainly enjoyed scraping up against the stubborn, resistant, endlessly interesting surface of the real world. I like awkwardness, things that don't fit, things that put up a struggle against being described. But when I was excited by what I was writing about, what I wanted to do with my excitement was always to tell a story. So every one of my non-fiction books borrowed techniques from the novel, and contained sections where I came close to behaving like a novelist. The chapter retelling the story of Captain Scott's last Antarctic expedition at the end of "I May Be Some Time", for example, or the thirty-page version of the gospel story in "Unapologetic". It wasn't a total surprise that in 2010 I published a book, "Red Plenty", which was a cross between fiction and documentary, or that afterwards I completed my crabwise crawl towards the novel with the honest-to-goodness entirely-made-up "Golden Hill". This was a historical novel about eighteenth century New York written like, well, an actual eighteenth century novel: hyperactive, stuffed with incident, and not very bothered about genre or good taste. It was elaborate, though. It was about exceptional events, and huge amounts of money, and good-looking people talking extravagantly in a special place. Nothing wrong with any of that: I'm an Aaron Sorkin fan and a Joss Whedon fan, keen on dialogue that whooshes around like a firework display. But those were the ingredients of romance, and there were other interesting things to tell stories about, so my next novel "Light Perpetual" in 2021 was deliberately plainer, about the lives that five London children might have had if they hadn't been killed in 1944 by a German rocket. Ordinary lives, in theory; except that there are no ordinary lives, if you look closely enough. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize. And now (2023) I am returning to strong forms of story, and to plotting more like "Golden Hill", with a noir crime novel called "Cahokia Jazz", set in the 1922 of a different timeline, where a metropolis full of Native Americans stands on the banks of the Mississippi. Gunfire! Clarinet solos! Wisecracking journalists! Men in hats! Femmes fatales! All remixed to, I hope, different effect. Unexpected effect, as the old pleasures do new imaginative work. The idea is to screen for you, on the page, something like the best black and white movie you never saw.

Biography: I was born in 1964, the child of two historians. I'm married to an Anglican priest, I have two daughters, and I teach writing at Goldsmiths College, London, just next door to the place where a V2 fell on a branch of Woolworths.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
6,858 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

John Spritz
5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the best novel in recent years
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024
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WHENEVER someone says to me "So, read any good books lately?" or "I'm looking for a good novel to read..." "Golden Hill" are the first words out of my mouth. I would walk up and down Fifth Avenue with a sandwich sign touting this novel, that's how strongly I feel about it. New York City pre-Revolution, written beautifully, including a romance, a mystery, comedy, intrugue. READ IT!!!
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Burns
4.0 out of 5 stars Surprising
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2024
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It's November 1746, and a young man named Richard Smith arrives in New York City from London. He has no connections in the colony and seemingly no business, but he does have a line of credit worth a thousand British pounds sterling, almost 2,000 pounds in New York currency (or whatever crazy mix of paper, coins, and trade goods New Yorkers call currency at the time), an absolute fortune. He's very guarded and secretive about his background and his intentions. He's also a little off-balance himself, having to adjust from the huge metropolis of London to the small backwater town that New York was in comparison. His strange and closed-mouth character instantly raises red flags among the New York merchants and politicians that he meets. Who is he? What does he want? Is the money real? Is he a con man, a criminal? Does he plan to use his money -if it exists - to involve himself in the unsettled commerce and politics of the city, on one side or the other? These are all questions that the author leaves hanging in the readers' minds for most of the book as well, only providing answers at the end, and the answers are genuinely surprising, once revealed. The ending was impossible to predict, but not too incredible or crazy to accept.

Spufford is a British author who has written several nonfiction books, and this was his first novel. It won several awards and paced on several Best lists. It's a very interesting depiction of colonial New York. Golden Hill is kind of in the picaresque genre, like Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews, and Candide, rollicking adventures of a rough, dishonest, but likable hero, complete with romance, intrigue, and swordplay. However, like Candide, Richard Smith is not dishonest, just naive. Or is he? The reader really doesn't learn the truth until the end. It's a fun adventure.
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fra7299
3.0 out of 5 stars A little uneven, but writing is very strong
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2021
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Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill is very reminiscent of a work such as Tom Jones, David Simple or Joseph Andrews. It involves one stranger, Mr. Smith, arriving at Manhattan in 1746 from England, and with a thousand pounds that he wants to cash. There is a certain mystery as to what his intentions are, and this seems to stir rumors and talk within the community. Does he ultimately have good intentions? Or is there something more seedy or untrustworthy about his intentions?

I think the best word that can sum up this novel is uneven; overall, it was sort of a mixed bag.

On one hand, I did enjoy Spufford’s writing and his command of prose, the descriptions of the settings and place that give it sort of an authentic feel, and the general scenery and imagery depicting Golden Hill. But, on the other hand, there was a quality to the flow of the novel that just did not gel entirely. It felt like there were way too many diversions, sidebars, or long-winding side subplots that did not entirely have much to do with the outcome in the final parts. So, I felt a mix of equal being invested in our protagonist, Smith, and then also indifferent in other parts.

I also felt like the supporting cast of characters did not bring much to the table, so to speak, and were unsubstantial in total and lacking. I this made it more difficult to be invested in the outcome of the plot.

Additionally, Spufford withholds the “secret” of Mr. Smith’s intention until nearly the entire duration of the book. I think this would have worked had there been a big payoff at the end, but, to me, the ending felt abrupt and sort of just thrown in there, rendering many of the events beforehand in the novel rather inconsequential.

So, I cannot say I was not entertained in some respects, and there is a slight sort of whimsical light feel to the book that has a certain charm. And I was invested in Smith at points, but things sort of fizzled at the end. So, there was an uneven, inconstant feel to the flow of Golden Hill.

Still, I can see how others enjoyed and were charmed by it. It just did not quite add up for me. I would, however, be interested in checking out other works by this author.
15 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Recreation of New York
Reviewed in Canada on April 7, 2022
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The book is a delight and sadly finished too soon. History imagined is more fascinating than the victors version of any war or life. The disenfranchised cleverest are the most interesting as opposed to the pompous and self satisfied successful?
Politics never tells the truth in the hands of most of those in control . Subjective truth by its acceptance makes it the choice . Laws are not protective of anyone but the financially successful!
One person found this helpful
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Dario Barbieri
5.0 out of 5 stars Regalo
Reviewed in Italy on March 2, 2022
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Ho stupito la persona a cui l’ho regalato!!! Ora chiede sempre a me consigli sulle letture!!
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Domingos Soares Farinho
3.0 out of 5 stars Quick delivery but some damage
Reviewed in Spain on December 16, 2021
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Quick delivery but one of the copies (I bought two) was stained and sticky.
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Vladimir
5.0 out of 5 stars what pleasure
Reviewed in Germany on March 10, 2021
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A superb story superbly recounted; go and read it ! I was fascinated by the portrayal of the New York atmosphere and society of the 18th century. The main character both elusive and amiable, those around him entirely creditable.
Highly enjoyable.
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Sabine Sendlhofer
5.0 out of 5 stars Quirkily surprising
Reviewed in France on September 20, 2020
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The book loiters in the mind long after it is consumed. A twist in anyone’s sobriety, strangely satisfying and emotionally astute. Grief, sadness, greed, cowardice, fear, malice, love, etca theater within the theater of life.... satisfying read
One person found this helpful
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