Golden Hill
To my great bafflement, it has taken this long for Golden Hill to be released in the US - a multi-award winning highly readable romp through colonial New York, you’d think it’d be obvious, but there you go.
Anyway, here is the main character, Mr. Smith - I roughed these out last year when I read the book, but have only just made them as pretty as I’d like.
Do give Golden Hill a shot if you like
- fun
- peril
- interesting characters
- meticulous research
- very satisfying historical fix-it fic
Mr Smith is superficially similar to Moist von Lipwig, which made it a little difficult for me to get a grip on the book at first, because I couldn't see into his head as clearly as Moist's (whose internal world is what really sells the book, IMO), but boy oh boy that was totally worth it for the sake of saving the reveal for the end - the sort of reveal that makes the re-read at least as satisfying as the first.
I don't know about you, but I find most of my recreational reading these days ends up being very serious news and commentary about how much of a mess we're in. It's nice to get a break like this and lose yourself in another time and place, without being devoid of meaning.
Supplemental material - including a rather comprehensive catalogue of 18th-century slang - can be found on the book’s Tumblr.