So a different location but the same old Rutherfurd, working his magic and weaving together fictional dynasties from across centuries of history. That said, this is the magic of Rutherfurd. No one else can match his style and ability – New York is a big enough subject for him to pick and choose the best stories. If not gripping this is a fair read which entertains throughout and keeps you coming back for more.

The large volume requires a lot of history to be cut out or glossed over – how could it be otherwise – but the big stories are here, from 9.11 through to the War of Independence to the Civil War and the very start of the Dutch trading post, eventually be renamed New York. For me the interesting times were when New York was a no go area in the early 80’s, with gangs, graffiti and new music one of the many creative outputs. This was brushed under the carpet a little quickly, but then the book has to end somewhere.

As with all of his other novels the history and stories are held together by key families and relatives. So the Master family (to use their later name) start as Dutch traders, then become merchant bankers and later still investment bankers and screen writers. We are taken on a gentle journey through their tales, stopping off on the way at key events and seemingly unconnected other people whose paths will of course cross at some point in their ancestry. Some of this is by necessity forced – such as the ornate belt passed through the generations – but we must live with these tags linking together the whole.

As someone who has never been to New York, I struggled with the geography of the book, especially at the start. I wonder if this would be the case for people who have been there – New York’s central layout of Broadway hasn’t change much since the beginning. There are maps at the start of the book but for me this was not enough. I borrowed The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City’s History (surely a major source of Rutherfurd’s research) which I highly recommend as a companion piece. One day I will visit the Big Apple, and perhaps then I will not need a guidebook.

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