Anyone else find it irritating how there are a million and one merchants in literature, but no one ever explores the day-to-day of actually doing business?
They're mostly portrayed as either greedy or savvy, but that usually serves as a pretext for villainy or adventure.
I want a book about someone who owns a shop, a ship, a trade caravan, etc., and then the plot should focus on that particular enterprise's evolution and prosperity. Other elements can be present and I don't really have a time period in mind. It can even be sci-fi for all I care (but not fantasy for this particular request) as long as the act of trading takes center stage.
Examples of otherwise good books I've read that do NOT meet this criteria:
The Liveship Traders
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Does anything like that even exist?
Thanks!
by Mind101
4 Comments
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Jeffrey Archer has written good novels about merchants and businessmen.
I haven’t read it, but based on the miniseries adaptation, I think Émile Zola’s 1883 novel *Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies’ Paradise*) would fit this request.
*Balance of Trade* by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. It’s part of a wider series, but can be read as a complete standalone.
Golden Age of the Solar Clipper by Nathan Lowell. Particularly the first few books. It kind of like if Midshipman Hornblower went for the Merchant Mariners instead of the Navy.