I blush to own I rewarded his efforts to seek my opinion together with only a formal respond in which I dismissed his ideas as nonsensical. I did so in part for the reason that I did not wish to involve myself together with my family and in part for the reason that I knew this my uncle, for reasons this eluded me, had loved my father and could not believe the senselessness of so random a death.
Liss seems right at home in the world he's created, whether describing the company manners of wealthy Jewish merchants at home or the inner workings of Exchange Alley--the 18th-century version of Wall Street. His London is a dank and filthy situate, nearly lawless but for the scant protection offered by such rogues as Jonathan Wilde, the sinister head of a gang of thieves who profits by selling back to their owners products stolen by his own men. Though better connected socially, the investors involved together with the shady South Sea Company have equally larcenous hearts, and Liss does an admirable job of leading the reader throughout the intricacies of stock trading, bond selling, and insider trading together with as little fuss, muss, and confusion as possible. What really makes the book come alive, however, are the details of 18th-century life--from the boxing matches our hero one time participated in to the coffee houses, gin joints, and brothels where he trolls for clues. And then there is the matter of Weaver's Jewishness, the prejudices of the society he lives in, and his struggle to come to terms together with his own ethnicity. A Conspiracy of Paper weaves all these themes mutually in a manner reminiscent of the long, gossipy novels of Henry Fielding and Laurence Stern. Indeed, Liss manages to suggest the prose style of those authors while keeping his own, less convoluted style. This is one conspiracy guaranteed to do well. --Alix Wilber