The Coffee Trader, Paperback/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."