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A swashbuckling action adventure upheld with solid historical facts
Go on a Journey
This is the story of John Law, a pied piper who led rich and poor alike across the barriers of reason and plunged them into disaster. Was he a genius, wizard or charlatan? Was France victimized by a gigantic fraud perpetrated by a scheming Scotsman?
“John Law of Lauriston, Circa 1718, Attrib. To A.S.Belle
From the original in the National Portrait Gallery”
From the original in the National Portrait Gallery”
The paperback book is available ON JANUARY 4 from New Academia Press
PROLOGUE
This is the story of John Law, a pied piper who led rich and poor alike across the barriers of reason and plunged them into disaster. Was he a genius, wizard or charlatan? Was France victimized by a gigantic fraud perpetrated by a scheming Scotsman?
John Law was the Scotsman who invented the concept of paper money and banking and became Comptroller of France. Though his principles were solid, the corruption of the French court led to the disaster known as The Mississippi Bubble. A dashing hero, dark villains, physical and political conflict, dangerous duels and harrowing escapes, exotic locales, beautiful and dangerous women, sex, corruption, betrayal, heroism and tragedy.
Sex, Money, and Power are the most powerful forces that drive mankind, and John Law was hell bent on having them all. This handsome Scottish adventurer stepped onto the stage of Europe at the dawn of the 18th century to alter forever the shape of international commerce. Born in Edinburgh in 1671, capable of hypnotizing women, monarchs, and whole populations, he escaped the hangman’s noose in England to travel the capitals of Europe, received by kings and sovereigns.
Reviewed By Grace Cavalieri, Poet Laureate of Maryland,
and host of the Library of Congress radio show: The Poet and the Poem
and host of the Library of Congress radio show: The Poet and the Poem
“Luscious is the word for this swashbuckling historical novel. John Law is a perfect combination of a fast-moving action-adventure upheld with solid historical facts. I’m an 18th-century enthusiast, an author, yet this information about economist John Law is astonishingly new. The book’s author is a consummately skilled writer with character-driven situations that become plots. She’s chosen a little-known figure who developed the first bank in France, going on to initiate paper money in exchange for gold nuggets, and further, to sell shares in the “Mississippi project” in the new world. That is the core of this novel, but that’s hardly its flair. The energy on the page comes from a vivid sense of place and decor with exquisite detail. We can feel the rustle of taffeta, the shine of diamonds, and the swerve of velvet in scene after scene. . . . with the weight of history lifted to an unforeseen buoyance. It’s impossible to stop reading because of the psychological action as well as physical movement. This book contributes to readers not only for sheer unending pleasure but an honest look at the rise and fall of currency in the first quarter of the 18th century. It’s an unusual combination of authenticity and drama; and will appeal to students of history and the general population.”
REVIEW by Dr. Richard Niles
One of the most fascinating, influential, and little-known individuals in history, the 18th century John Law’s unbelievable story has at last been brought to life in a biographical novel which is nothing short of breath-catching drama. Born in 1671 into a Scottish family of Church clerics and goldsmiths (the only persons allowed to lend money in Scotland), this exceptionally handsome and clever young man grew up to display little of Church morals. But he knew how to make vast amounts of money and how to use that to make more.
Taking full advantage of the many intrigues in John Law’s life, both sexual and monetary, author Pat Silver-Lasky vividly recreates the opulent world of the French Regency’s absorbing, wicked ways. She writes with clarity and style, embellishing notoriously complex topics in a clear and gripping fashion. Pat has written books, plays, and many detective series for television, displaying her nose for research in her biographies for the BBC of Christopher Columbus, Henry Morton Stanley, Alfred Nobel and Ernest Hemingway.
Law tried to sell England and then half of Europe on creating the world’s first National Bank. In France the Duke of Orleans watched Law win at the gaming tables and bought his banking ideas – and then his idea of paper money – a concept that changed the world’s economy forever. His amazing talents command an important chapter in the development of Western capitalism – stabilizing the value of money, banking, markets, and financial institutions.
But that was just the start. Law’s introduction of the “Mississippi scheme,” a wild exercise in capital procurement and share offering, spawned the greatest bull market in history. Its drastic crash, brought on by his enemies, make this book fascinating reading for anyone playing the markets today. The original ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, John Law said of his own achievements “I changed the world more than Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Indies.” Pat Silver-Lasky has delivered a sensual book about a man obsessed by money and love, and vividly brought to life one of the most interesting and influential individuals in history – John Law.
REVIEW: by Lisa Hayden Miller, author
Duels, dark villains, and danger mix with love, corruption, and betrayal in this rich historical biography. While this book meets all academic standards in every university library, its virtues are even more remarkable. The author agitates the conflicts and power plays of the French Court at the turn of the 18th century – unveiling this electrifying account of a little known but vastly important man in the history of our modern world, John Law, a Scotsman with a head for figures and a heart for romance.