Description: Amsterdam, 1659: On the world's first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city's close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city's most envied merchants, Miguel has suddenly lost everything. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living in his younger brother's canal-flooded basement, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation.
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. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam's ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.

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Reviews: "An entertaining tale . . . [A] learned page-turner . . . Despite the many characters and plot twists, Mr. Liss keeps his story in graceful motion." --The Wall Street Journal

"Expertly plotted and excellently written, and it has all the qualities readers want in novels -- romance, mystery, suspense, betrayal and redemption, a feeling for how people lived in other times and places." --The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

"Unusual and diverting . . . Sometimes, as the book demonstrates with a nice twist, sincerity can be the greatest means of deception." --The New York Times Book Review