''A Conspiracy of Paper'' is a historical-mystery novel by

David Liss David Liss (born March 16, 1966) is an American writer of novels, essays and short fiction; more recently working also in comic books. He was born in New Jersey and grew up in South Florida. Liss received his BA degree from Syracuse University ...

, set in London in the period leading up to the bursting of the

South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

in 1720.

Synopsis

The novel's story is told in the form of a first-person

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

penned by Benjamin Weaver (born Lienzo), London-born son of Portuguese

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Jewish parents. After a successful career in

bare-knuckle boxing Bare-knuckle boxing (or simply bare-knuckle) is a combat sport which involves two individuals throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time without any boxing gloves or other form of padding on their hands. It is a regulated ...

, Weaver has found a new calling as a 'thief-taker'—roughly equivalent to a modern private investigator. Believing that his estranged father died in a tragic accident, Weaver is shocked when a prospective client claims that the 'accident' was, in fact, murder. Weaver's subsequent investigation involves him in the new London financial world of banks, stocks, speculation, violence and scandal leading up to the world's first stock-market crash, the

. In order to solve the mystery, he must learn the inner workings of this new world of paper money. The murder investigation moves toward its conclusion in lock-step with the accelerating frenzy of the Bubble's final days. A sub-plot involves Benjamin's gradual reintegration, after years of estrangement, into his family's community and traditions. This gives the author the opportunity to introduce the Lienzo family, and their struggles to survive and prosper as Jews and foreigners in 18th century London. Benjamin finds added incentive to rejoin his family when he meets the beautiful Miriam, widow of his cousin and now living in his uncle Miguel's household. Eventually, Weaver goes back to live in the Jewish area of Dukes Place, regularly attends Sabbath prayers at the Synagogue and strictly refrains from consuming pork. As referenced in David Liss' extensive personal note at the end of the book, this parallels the author's own personal development - raised as a completely secular Jew in the present-day US and deciding as an adult to keep some of the observances of Judaism.

Real world ties

Though the Lienzo family and other main characters are fictional, the story is well-researched, and includes historical events surrounding the

.Polk, James
Follow the Phony Money
''The New York Times''. February 20, 2000. Retrieved 30 August 2010 The early days of the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

in the coffee houses of

Exchange Alley Exchange Alley or Change Alley is a narrow alleyway connecting shops and coffeehouses in an old neighbourhood of the City of London. It served as a convenient shortcut from the Royal Exchange on Cornhill to the Post Office on Lombard Street ...

are colorfully depicted, and Weaver has to deal with historical characters such as

Jonathan Wild Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683 – 24 May 1725), was a London underworld figure notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled the "'' Thief-Taker General''". He simultaneously ran ...

, the notorious 'Thief-taker General'. In the 'Historical Note' following the novel, regarding the Benjamin Weaver character, Liss states that "I found inspiration for his character in the story of

Daniel Mendoza Daniel Mendoza (5 July 1764 – 3 September 1836) (often known as Dan Mendoza) was an English prizefighter, who became the 18th boxing champion of England from 1792–1795. He was of Sephardic or Portuguese Jewish descent.''The Jewish Boxer's ...

", a real-life boxing champion.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title alludes to the

South Sea Company The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...

's fraudulent schemes to inflate and maintain the value of its stock.

Awards and nominations

* Best First Mystery Novel 2001
Macavity Awards
* Best First Novel 2001
Edgar Awards

References

External links

* Author's websit

(accessed Aug, 2010) * Publisher's David Liss pag

(accessed Aug, 2010) * ''Follow the Phony Money''. NY Times book review, February 20, 2000

(accessed Aug, 2010) * ''A Conspiracy of Paper'' by David Liss. Salon.com, March 7, 2000

(accessed Aug, 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Conspiracy Of Paper 2000 American novels American historical novels American mystery novels Novels by David Liss Novels set in London Novels set in the 1710s Macavity Award-winning works Barry Award-winning works South Sea Bubble Historical mystery novels