Golden Hill

‘This is another story from the time when your grandparents were children; and also from near the beginning of Narnia.  In those days, clothes for boys and girls were more uncomfortable than they are now, and good manners were much more tiresome and complicated, but people were better at minding their own business, and if you wanted to go hunting for rabbits with a bow you had made yourself, nobody would tell you it was bad for you.  They might punish you if they caught you, but that is different.  Mr Sherlock Holmes was still solving mysteries in Baker St, but the Bastables had stopped seeking for treasure in the Lewisham Road, because they had moved from London into the country.  And so had Digory Kirke, to the long grey house under the shoulder of mountains all purple with heather, where he lived now with his father, his mother, and his uncle...’

Dutch translation

Het Parool [not online]: 'Roman vol energie en vertelplezier.’  A novel full of energy and storytelling.

Trouw: ‘”Gouden bergen” is dan wel een historische roman, maar laat vooral veel zien over tijdloze mechanismes tussen mensen.’ Golden Hill may be a historical novel, but it tells you a lot about the timeless mechanisms of human behaviour.

De Volkskrant: ‘Een jolly good read.’ A... jolly good read.

Boekenkrant: ‘Ik zou bijna geloven dat Francis Spufford er enkele weken heeft gelogeerd om de stad zo te kunnen schetsen. Voor deze fantastische ansichtkaart ben ik hem dan ook dankbaar.’ I could almost believe Francis Spufford stayed [in 18th C NY] for a few weeks to be able to sketch the city. I’m grateful for this fantastic postcard from him.

VPRO Boeken: ‘Historisch topvermaak, geschapen voor de feestdagen.’ Top historical entertainment, just right for the holidays.

NCRV-gids: ‘Engelsman Spufford heeft twee historici als ouders. Komt het daardoor dat hij het achttiende-eeuwse leven in New York zo sprankelend weet te beschrijven?’ Englishman Spufford has two historians for parents. Is it because of this he can describe 18th century life in New York in such a sparkling way?

Italian translation

Oggi: ‘Rispetta in pieno le aspettative.’ Fully justifies expectations.

La Stampa: ‘Ciniche e belle, mascalzoni, dicerie e una favolosa fortuna.’ Cynical and beautiful women, scoundrels, rumours and a fabulous fortune.

Il Giornale: ‘Plot molto teatrale (quasi da teatro elisabettiano, quasi shakespeariano) in cui il filo rosso della narrazione è retto dal più classico degli stranieri, estraneo a tutto e a tutti, enigmatico, indecifrabile.’ A very theatrical plot (almost Elizabethan, almost Shakespearian) in which the red thread of the narration is spun by the most classic of outsiders, a stranger to everything and everyone, enigmatic, indecipherable. 

Catalan translation