That in itself is a story so interesting that it is worth to read the book for it. Jews in Amsterdam could practice their religion and be active in trade – although there were plenty of rules between Jews and non-Jews. So he flew to Amsterdam, at that time a safe haven for Jews. However the conversos in Portugal were still facing discrimination and many had to fear for their life. The Coffee Trader tells about Miguel Lienzo, a Jew who lived in Portugal as a converso – a Jew converted to Catholicism – like many other Jews. David Liss is a writer who knows the word research: he depicts the 17th century with many details of context and history. What a story about trade in 1659 Amsterdam, where cultures and religions vary and new ways of doing business occur in the markets.
Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam’s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.The Coffee Trader is a good book for you, a friend told me and sent me a second hand version by post. 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. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living in his younger brother’s canal-flooded basement, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation. Once among the city’s most envied merchants, Miguel has suddenly lost everything. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city’s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. " Amsterdam, 1659: On the world’s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant.
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