Böcker av Ron Thompson

1792. British naval lieutenant George Vancouver arrives in the Pacific northwest on a voyage of exploration. He has orders to take possession of Nootka Sound, but finds the Spanish, led by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, already there and unwilling to leave. Quadra and Vancouver negotiate their countries' claims, manoeuvre for advantage, and seek the support of Maquinna, chief of the Mowachaht, who recognizes the threat posed by all the newcomers to his territory. While the commanders seek a solution, their crews fraternize and wait. When a young man is killed on shore, Spanish and British alike blame the natives and demand revenge. The man's commander, though, refuses to retaliate without proof. He investigates, and uncovers a web of secrets, lies, and exploitation - and the identity of the killer. How Quadra and Vancouver respond to their standoff, and the truth they both discover about the murder, could ignite into conflict in the Pacific northwest - or outright war between the world's two most powerful empires.

There is something odd about him. He's a genius with numbers, and he's fascinated by words, but he just doesn't get people. With all their coded talk and body language they are a lifelong mystery, a black box without a key. That's why he gravitated years ago to the backrooms of finance; he was comfortable there, calculating risk and designing derivatives. Credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities were far less complicated than other human beings.Now it's 2008, and global markets are melting down, but the guy who just may be responsible for the crisis is no longer thinking up derivatives. He's written a book, an historical epic-the long-awaited Great Canadian Novel, if only he could get it published. He's struck out at every turn, and the uncertainty is eating him up. He is beset by doubt, unsure about his talent and the choices he has made. What's more, he's got a horrendous case of writer's block. He can't seem to get going on his next great epic. "You're a writer," his friend counsels. "Write your way out of it." And so he does, beginning with his own story, reflecting on his choices and where they have led, his obsessions, his writing quest; and Genny, the great love of his life. His is a rollercoaster journey that wends from the western prairie through the halls of Oxford, to London, the Kalahari, and Wall Street on 911; and finally to Toronto's Little Poland where he's gone off-grid and possibly off the rails.How does a man with no name become a person of letters? Is he naïve, crazy, or just over-medicated? A Person of Letters is a rollicking riff on creativity and idealism, a deliciously icy snowball aimed at writing and publishing in the digital age.