The Sugar Merchant by James Hutson Wiley

A 11th century story has to be I thought a bit slow, interesting but slow. This proved me wrong. Thomas lost his entire family in a raid. Through sheer doggedness and good luck he ended up with a monk who took him back to his monastery, and became the father he had lost and the monastery became the family he wanted. A bright spark, he took to learning, academic as well as others and the senior monks ear marked him for a future far away from rural Eynsham. Entering into a world of trade, totally unknown to him the adventures of Thomas were myriad and wide. Encountering Jews and Muslims he befriends both communities, establishes a profitable commercial venture/s, marries a Muslim despite a fatwa against it and becomes a person of stature in the Islamic world he embraces. The story was fascinating, fast paced and held my interest throughout. For those who like history it provided enough, it was also a personal story of rags to riches and this enthralled me as well. Sent by BooksGoSocial for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.