The merchants of New York didn’t know what to make of Mr. Smith, a handsome young man who appeared out of the rain and fog at the door or Lovell & Company on Golden Hill Street. He was bearing an order for a thousand pounds and wanted payment! A thousand pounds was a fortune. Should he be trusted? And if the paper proved to be genuine how could they pay? Cash money was not easy to come by. In 1746, most transactions were by barter. Sixty days wait was required before payment, and in that sixty days, Richard Smith managed to make every mistake possible while trying to fit into a new society. This is a wonderful novel. It had everything: a bumbling, lovable hero, twists and turns of the plot, descriptions of New York as a provincial town. The language was beautiful and the characters interesting. The only flaw is that it ended before I’d had enough.

eGalley review                                                    Publication date 6.27.17