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 ?
This week's book is Francis Spufford's Golden Hill and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.
Please note change of book. This is our last book this year, and we meet next on 12 January 2017 for The Woman in White.