Literary Evening: Pre-Revolutionary Manhattan
Thu, Feb 19
|The Mather Homestead Barn
Read Golden Hill with us! Historian Francis Spufford's first and only foray into fiction. The streets of 1746 Manhattan come alive in this vibrant tale. Join us for a warm beverage and book talk.
Time & Location
Feb 19, 2026, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The Mather Homestead Barn, 19 Stephen Mather Rd, Darien, CT 06820, USA
About the event
A rollicking page-turner of a journey through the streets of 1746 Manhattan – a tiny village pressed in upon by wilderness, home to Dutch, French, English, enslaved Africans, and indigenous Lenape. Enter a handsome, mysterious young stranger, newly arrived by ship, holding an order for 1000 pounds.
Read a Q&A with Francis Spufford here.
An excerpt:
There were technical reasons, plot reasons, why it was helpful to have my protagonist Mr. Smith try to draw his bill of exchange on a Manhattan merchant in 1746, even though I knew was straying into anachronism here, Philadelphia at that point being much more the financial centre of the colonies. And again, I had a bunch of literary reasons to do with New York City’s cultural resonance and centrality: it was lovely to be able to wind back the great cosmopolis into its village-sized starting point, while still playing with all the things…