about the author
about david
David Breakell was born and grew up in Sussex, England. After his schooldays, he read law at Worcester College, Oxford. Despite spending too much time on student journalism, filmmaking and fencing for the university, he somehow managed to get his degree. After hitchhiking around the US for a summer, he tried various other jobs before deciding to qualifiy as a solicitor. His legal career culminated in nearly 20 years as a banking partner in a global law firm.
David is married with grown-up children and lives close to the sea, back in Sussex. He is currently working on a second novel in the series.
Author Focus
"Money has been called many things by famous writers over the centuries: the Sixth Sense without which the other Five are no use; the Sinews of War; or Coined Liberty, are just a few of them.
I am a new writer of historical fiction. The setting of my debut novel is the Republic of Genoa in the two years immediately prior to the launch of the Spanish Armada, but its theme is not so much war, as money. It explores how that defining historic event was as much shaped by the behind-the-scenes role of the bankers and moneylenders, as by the actions of princes and the forces they commanded.
The men and women who feature in the book are ordinary mortals: they love, marry, fight, build or destroy, just like the rest of us. But a few of them have skills which set them apart: intelligence networks that help them predict events; a finely honed instinct for judging character; and a detached viewpoint for analysing risks. But they make mistakes too: and when things go wrong, they can do so with historic consequences."
about genoa at the time
Genoa, like its rival Venice, was at the time at the epicentre of east-west trade. Imports and the onward sales of goods, spices and silk especially, were financed by Genoa’s moneychangers. And not just loans to merchants: for many years Genoa’s bankers were also principal lenders to the Spanish crown. Over time, the value of these banking transactions became twice as large as Genoa’s economy itself. An unbalanced position, which has its echoes in the global financial crisis of recent years.
The Loggia dei Mercanti was where the moneychangers conducted business. Strategically positioned next to the market in Piazza Banchi, which would have been thronged on market days. Each had his own ‘pitch’ - a simple affair with chairs, a bench and the instruments of the trade: ledger, abacus and currency chest. The Italian word for bench or table is ‘banca’ and from this term is derived our own ‘bank’.
Genoa is in some senses a character in the story. The broad sweep of Caricamento around the harbour; the ‘striped’ cathedral of San Lorenzo with its architectural suggestion of a fortress; the bustle of the marketplace in Piazza Banchi; the narrow alleyways in the poorer districts and the grand palazzos looking down on the old city from their elevated viewpoints. Fortunately, Genova’s medieval heart retains much of the look, even some of the ambience, it had more than four centuries ago.